Brigham Young University isn't exactly known for its diverse student population. In fact, just 176 out of the Utah school's 30,000 students are African American, or 0.59%.
Comedian Dave Ackerman decided to quiz the unsuspecting BYU student populace about Black History Month in a video posted on YouTube. The students' answers are, predictably, disturbing.
Equally troubling, however, is the fact that Ackerman gets a make-up artist to paint his skin "black." Viewers are thus left with the doubly uncomfortable prospect of watching a comedian in black face interview white students about African-American culture.
The video begins with a series of students demonstrating that they don't know what month Black History Month is actually celebrated. It then features students claiming Malcolm X "was a part of the movement to get blacks into the schools" and citing "Will Smith" as a famous black historical figure. One white student tells Ackerman he celebrates Black History Month with "fried chicken and grape juice."
When he asks about dating, another white student tells Ackerman he knows people who have "jungle fever."
The video concludes with several white students -- encouraged by Ackerman -- doing stereotypical impressions of how they believe black people talk and gesticulate, which leads to a truly unfortunate sequence of white students essentially doing cliched impersonations of African Americans.
Ackerman preemptively defends his actions in the video itself, noting he is "fighting ignorance with ignorance."
But Matt Stopera over at Buzzfeed put it this way: "There is SO much wrong with this video. I can't even believe this exists."
Source
Happy Black History Month, everyone!
"One of my best friends is black..."
LAWDY!!
Pretty much my thoughts. Everything about this article is fucking disgusting.
I swear to [pick a deity], not all Utahns are like this.
noting he is "fighting ignorance with ignorance."
What? How? Did you slap these fucking nitwits and tell them how they're embarrassing and wrong and need to shut the fuck up? No? Then you're not fighting shit; you're just as much of a jackass.
(Also, was the "Mood: Blah" thing a riff on Douchewaffle Santorum?)
I remember when I went 'Trunk or Treating' at the church. A lot of the adult members made jokes about how I "blended into the darkness" and how I should've dressed as something more "black" like Aunt Jemima. (I believe I was dressed as a witch)
And when I was forced to be baptized for others (I regret doing this to this day), many of the young women and one of the chaperones joked about how my hair "changed textures" after it was wet, asked if I could get a comb through it, and bragged about how they were glad their hair was straight. I have more stories, but it would take up a lot of space to post them.
Eventually, the whole church shunned me after my mother divorced her husband (who was an active member of the church). I'm glad they did, to be honest.
Needless to say, I like to block all memories of those bastards out of my life.
(This is the last edit. I swear!)
Edited at 2012-02-09 03:46 am (UTC)
Sorry, try again.
(and I refuse to watch the video, I had enough with people defending the use of Blackface for the rest of the year, thank you.)
I had to turn it off when one guy dropped "colored people". Ugh.
And in other news, as a follow-up (of sorts) to this post, another note was left... this time on an African-American girl's dorm door. It was something to the effect of "niggers will die with the fags". My source is my sister, who's in the process of transferring out of MSU and lives in the same dorm building. >=(
I really hate people sometimes.
Considering the church's history, it doesn't surprise me that not very many blackfolk are running to attend an establishment called Brigham Young University.
No, idiot. That's not how you fight it.
I nearly threw something at the screen when one of the white female students said that she "wouldn't date a white guy who acts like a black guy" IN FRONT of a black student. The "impersonations" of black people near the end were just...wow.
And the "comedian" that made this video can go step in a vat of acid for all I care.
I feel so sorry for any BYU student who isn't part of what the Mormon church considers to be "normal" (aka white, cis, heterosexual, fairly well-off).
SO MUCH WRONG WITH THAT
凸(▼皿▼ﾒ)
(ﾉ`A´)ﾉ ⌒┫ ┻ ┣ ┳
Ackerman preemptively defends his actions in the video itself, noting he is "fighting ignorance with ignorance."
Oh STFU.
I gasped a couple of times during this video, shocked at the ignorance that was shown. These people are at least 18 or older, and they are living in some little bubble. They just disturbed me and really made me angry. What really surprised me was when the man asked them to name a black historical figure, not one of them said President Obama. It's not technically history yet, but he was/is our first African-American president. (Or at least half-black if you want to get really technical about it. My Dad would get technical about it.)
And, okay, maybe they skip Black History Month in history classes at BYU. But, did they not learn about people/things like W.E.B. Dubois, the 15th Amendment, the N.A.A.C.P., Hiriam R. Revels, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass, Cornel Wilde, George Washington Carver, etc when they were in elemntary/middle/high school?
"I truly am disgusted by facebookers on my news feed "liking" that disgusting and embarrassing video posted by some a-hole from BYU. I refuse to have ignorant friends. Expect to be deleted shortly."
I told her; "I don't know what the video is, but I approve" because I just knew it was something racist or homophobic.
This page is relevant.
Edited at 2012-02-09 05:13 am (UTC)