Blackfacing is a manifestation of the history of stereotyping, dehumanizing and oppressing black people. The racist practice is manifested in different ways across different countries in the world. Stop Blackface is an online platform which aims to connect different activists and campaigns who contest the practice as a part of the global struggle against racism and white supremacy. Stop Blackface!
What is Blackface?
“Blackface is part of a history of dehumanization, of denied citizenship, and of efforts to excuse and justify state violence. From lynchings to mass incarceration, whites have utilized blackface (and the resulting dehumanization) as part of its moral and legal justification for violence. It is time to stop with the dismissive arguments those that describe these offensive acts as pranks, ignorance and youthful indiscretions. Blackface is never a neutral form of entertainment, but an incredibly loaded site for the production of damaging stereotypes…the same stereotypes that undergird individual and state violence, American racism, and a centuries worth of injustice.”
Source: Dr. David J. Leonard, Just Say No to Blackface: Neo-minstrelsy and the Power to Dehumanize