I wanted to show a foreigner a picture of what blackface looked like. I wanted a modern day picture in color so it was easier for them to recognize.

Problem is when I look on google images the only results that come up are that of a Christmas Elf called Zwarte Pete from Holland.

I had guessed that this may be intentional censorship so as not to give this particular form of hate speech a voice by eliminating it from search results.

To me this is a perfect example of why such censorship is counterproductive. The end result was I was unable to educate someone about this form of hate speech effectively.

@freemo Pretty sure last night I reposted a post someone made about an old sitcom that has blackface that's still on #Netflix...

But #RobertDowneyJr's #TropicThunder character is the most popular modern example of blackface

#JimmyKimmel did it too once, on #SNL

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@realcaseyrollins I wouldnt describe any of those as black face. Those are characters in makeup to look african, which isnt blackface IMO.. Blackface would have to be intentionally done to mock africans, usually with large red lips and literally black colored face pain.

@freemo Yeah this is true. The kind of blackface you're talking about isn't too common though, to my knowledge.

Are you sure this is a censorship thing? Or just that modern blackface isn't that common, and if it is, it never rises to the notoriety as past uses of it, so it wouldn't show up.

@realcaseyrollins I agree it isnt too common. I cant be sure its a censorship thing no. But I do know there are examples of people at parties in literal blackface, usually from the "alt-right" that should be pretty high on the result list and I cant find it.

@freemo I actually was able to find this tho, apparently it's part of a tradition in some sort of #Dutch festival

@realcaseyrollins That is the christmas elf I was refering to. While I wont argue it is blackface I was looking for one that wasnt of the Holland christmas elf depicted here (Called Zwarte Pete)

I am quite offended to have my positive memories of what is a traditional part of celebrating my birthday in Germany,
google.com/search?q=sternsinge reinterpreted as hate speech.
@freemo @realcaseyrollins

@tatzelbrumm

To some extent I can understand that. Many people who celebrated Zwarte Pete dont really see it as racist. But there are clear racist elements all the same.

@realcaseyrollins

@freemo
Yes, there are elements of racism, but more in the sense of the exotic.
In the case of the Sternsinger tradition, the black king signifies that Jesus has been born as savior of all humankind, black folks included.
In ecclesiastical heraldry, as shown in the Coat of Arms of the diocese of Freising and the village of Ismaning, which was part of it, the moor's head does not carry the connotation of hate, see vatican.va/content/benedict-xv
@realcaseyrollins

@freemo
I'm accusing USAmericans of cultural imperialism, because they demand of everybody, irrespective of heritage and cultural tradition, to reinterpret symbols that predate the European colonization of the Americas by centuries:
erzbistum-muenchen.de/ueber-un
under the aspect of their own Peculiar Institution.
@realcaseyrollins

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