This will make the 7th time that I have posted to this thread.
And though I told myself that I wouldn't be posting again after my last comment {and after each other post], here I go again...

First off, I have enough words that I don't need people putting words in my mouth..[Meaning that I don't take kindly to people saying that I said something that I didn't say].

In NONE of my posts did I write that I consider the folks who blacken up to be racist. What I did say [and still believe] is that the custom is [though it may not have originally been] insensitive and offensive to me as an African American.

See this excerpt of my 25 Feb 05 - 07:59 PM post:
"That being said, I acknowledge that I am very prone to be sceptical of assertions that 'darkie' refers to the dark days, or the only reason why black paint was used was as a disguise so that a worker's boss would not recognize him.. These seem to me to be more like contemporary, politically correct reasons for ancient customs whose original purposes may not ever be totally known-or whose members want to defray accusations [warranted or unwarranted of their insensitivity...

Note that I said "insensitivity" and not "racism"..."
end of quote.

My ONLY mention of racism was when I took issue with an inference that could be made from a comment that El Greko wrote on 25 Feb 05 - 07:36 AM that racism is likely to occur when some citical number of Black people reside among mostly non-Black peoples.

The comment that El Greko made was:
"While there was contact with Africa from the ancient times, there had never been a sufficient number of Africans living there to give rise to racism - and they would have lived in the main towns only, anyway, so most Greeks would not have come into contact."

On 25 Feb 05 - 08:43 AM I wrote in response to this inference [which may or may not have been El Greko's intention}:

"Instead, I would rather praise the ancient Greeks for not having any color prejudice because they recognized that such feelings were silly or ignorant and/or because they recognized the Humanity and the merits of Africans who they had met or heard of, and/or because of their recognition of the rich heritage that that Greek culture had received from African culture".

end of quote

Note that I still did not use the word "racism".

I started my post to this thread agreeing with Joe Offer's post that "I don't think people would dare go blackface in the U.S. nowadays. Since the 1960's, it's been considered socially unacceptable. It was common in the 1950's and earlier."

My post on 25 Feb 05 - 07:59 PM reiterates this position and expands on it to say that in the United States public displays of blackening would probably be met with law suits.

Pied Piper, you said:

"Azizi points out that it would be impossible for white skinned people to "black up" in the US without it being considered racist and action taken"

Here's what I said:

"And this too I believe-given the history of the United States, if private groups were to publicly perform such blackening disguises here, then lawsuits would be filed to halt that practice. And I would be glad about that [and might even initiate or join in such a law suit]."

end of quote.

Again, I make no mention of racism.

In my posts I have consistently written that I find the practice of blakening up to be offensive to me. I have said that I would like moe information on the custom and in particular would be interested in reading about any studies made of it.

However, given what I have learned from reading this and other threads on blackening up, I have made my position clear that I believe that the contemporary practice of blackening up is counter productive to the goals of showing dignity and respect for all people.

I wrote that this was my position irrespective of whether White people went blackfaced or Black people did-and even gave an example of African Americans going blackfaced [the Mardi Gras Zulu kwewe].
If interested, posters here can google the words Mardi Gras Zulus to read about their history and African American reaction to it.

The crux of my position is so powerfully exemplified by Shirley Jackson's short story entitled "The Lottery" that Brucie provided a link to 25 Feb 05 - 10:13 AM.

I wrote that "If, in my opinion, a tradition does not do that [show dignity and respect for all people", then, as far as I'm concerned, to hell with the tradition."

I say this recognizing that there are many here who have good feelings about the ancient tradition of blackening up. I respect that you treasure this tradition, but that does not change my gut reaction of aversion to this practice which, I openly admit, was born and has been fed by my history and socialization as an African American.

All that being said, I would like to take this opportunity to send a special Shout Out and THANK YOU to Brucie and Milk Monitor.

I would also like to say to George {El Greko}, that if you mean 'sista sista' by your comment

"And I'd like one day to call you by what you call yourself (the double word), and mean it as an honourary title, without needing to worry (as I do) about offending you..."

then I would say this, although I really don't use 'sista sista' as a name, but have occasionally used it on Mudcat as a descriptive title -excluding my use of Sista in the Shane Diary posts as that character was certainly not meant to be taken seriously ;O))

I extend my right hand of fellowship to you George [and any others here and welcome you as a brother [or sister.]

I believe that people can disagree on certain points and still be friends [and part of the Mudcat family-and part of God's family].   

Peace,
Azizi