"Now, would you be comfortable introducing a Black-British or British-Asian child to the many blacking-up traditions? What about those rooted in minstrelsy? The nigger songs? Come to think of it, is this something you'd like White British children to celebrate as part of their heritage?"

I'm afraid it was you who went off topic with this set of hypothetical questions. The conversation was about a specific practice in a specific time and place, a practice that I insisted should be seen in that narrow context. Be that as it may, and since my initial response to this set of questions proved unsatisfactory to you, I'll give it another shot. My response - It would depend on the context. If blacking-up was presented as one among many inversion rituals and practices, I believe it would suitable to present graphic and video evidence of the practice. Other examples would include "whiting up" in Africa and the Caribbean, Native American gender reversal practices would also be up for discussion (by children, I'll assume you mean up to high school age - there are a number of topics that probably aren't suitable for small children, and they don't all involve race, gender, strange clothing and face paint). Another example: If I was teaching nineteenth-century American history, yes I would let them see and hear examples of blackface minstrelsy - it's important and its influence resounds to this day.

"All your sources for the positive impacts of minstrelsy are just a smokescreen, because what we're talking about is specifically the BLACKING UP. That's the bit we're interrogating."

If you've indeed read the sources I listed, you would know that each does not so much argue for a 'positive impact' as argue for the significance and complexity of minstrelsy. Eric Lott digs into the meaning minstrelsy held for performers and the audience, writing that "the social unconscious of blackface suggests that whites involved in minstrelsy were from unenthusiastic about black cultural practices." Hence the title. From William Mahar, minstrel performances "were simply too diverse to support the hypothesis that all burnt cork comedy focused on racial issues." Minstrel groups in some cases performed Italian operas, for crying out loud. Dale Cockrell traced minstrelsy's origins to English and northern Irish mumming plays, and argued that the conventional understanding of minstrelsy as an expression of "unrelenting hatred of blacks by working-class urban white males . . . (is) ahistorical. It ascribes meaning without understanding context . . . ." Hans Nathan dealt extensively with the musical side of minstrelsy (the enduring and most significant aspect, in my opinion), and found contributions and antecedents traceable to white European and black African sources.

"Fact is, dressing up to mock another culture is racially offensive."

Now you are claiming to know what you cannot know - the motivations and feelings of Padstow residents. I wonder, however, if you would similarly attack the Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans (and I'll be very disappointed with you if you don't know what I'm talking about).

"Finally, can I ask you to keep your comments on topic, and not resort to personal insults and offensiveness. Thank you."

I am sorry if you don't like my tone and my language, but all my posts have been on topic. We just understand the topic differently.