From Howard Jones:

'What I don't know, because we've not had any replies from anyone identifying themselves as a black British person, is how black people themselves view it.'



From the blacking-up discussion, 2007:

'Well, the article from EDS that I quoted earlier interviewed several people about the practice, including a dance caller named Nigel Hogg. This is what he had to say:

"I have watched many different dance groups around the country, and on certain occasions I have seen groups black up to perform. As a mixed race man I do find this tradition offensive because I see it as a parody mocking people of colour. I would imagine that the people who perform these dances are not racists, and on some levels the people involved have not even though about the implications these dances might have to people of colour.

The bottom line is that we now live in multicultural Britain, and although these forms are traditional, they are not really acceptable anymore. Times, attitiudes and trends move on, and now is time to move forward, not just in dance and song. If there was a display of this kind of dancing in an inner-city area, how would it go down? In my opinion it would be taken very badly and many people would be offended, because as i see it, it is a backward step. I do not think that blacking up to dance achieves multi-racial harmony."

So, not just us white middle class do-gooders finding it offensive, then. I don't know about you, but i am always really chuffed to see black and Asian people at traditional events, from festivals to calendar customs. I think it says something incredibly positive about the culture we live in. The idea of people of different backgrounds trying to engage positively with English traditional culture being confronted with a blacking-up tradition that has its roots in minstrelsy is incredibly depressing.'