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Is black-face makeup offensive when santa clause does it?


Guest David

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Hello everyone, my name is David age 34 from Spain. I am writing to you today because I am curious about the topic of black-face makeup.

It is the 5th of January 2018 today, and everyone is getting ready for Christmas. See, where I live, Christmas is not on the 25th of December, it is on the 6th and 7th of January.

 

Instead of celebrating the birth of Jesus on the 25th, the Spanish celebrate the arrival of the 3 kings who came brining gifts for Jesus a few days later.

On the 6th, all the kids go to Church, and ask for their gifts, then on the 7th, the 3 kings show up in a convertible car and hand out gifts.

Traditionally, 2 of the kings are depicted as having white-ish skin, and one of them is depicted as a black man.

The thing is, in the vast majority of towns, King Baltasar, the black one, is depicted by a white man slathered in black-face makeup.

 

I now that black-face is normally considered racist and offensive, but I wanted to know what people think in this situation.

Is black-face offensive when Santa Clause is the one doing it?

To the local kids here, seeing a white Baltasar would be as weird as seeing Santa without his famous beard.

 

Also, the white person depicting Baltasar in black-face is doing it out of some strange sense of being historically accurate.

It still looks just as bad and ugly as when it is done for racist reasons, some of them almost look like they are from the minstels show. 

Finally, it should be worth noting, that the person wearing the black-face makeup normally does not enjoy doing it, they do it for the kids. They find the makeup a real pain to remove later.

I would be curious to know your thoughts. Thank you, and happy new year!

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I think you've presented a very good case, David, for crafting an opinion which decides that, yes, wearing black face in the spirit of accuracy is not only offensive but is an oxymoron.  Taking into consideration the country where you are located, what would be more authentic would be to recruit a swarthy person of Moorish descent to portray Baltasar.  Another alternative to black face,  would be to neatly apply bronze colored make-up instead. 

 

In America,  under appropriate circumstances, black men will dress up as Santa Claus. But Santa in black-face would be unacceptable because it is, indeed, offensive. 

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Guest Guest David
18 hours ago, Cynique said:

I think you've presented a very good case, David, for crafting an opinion which decides that, yes, wearing black face in the spirit of accuracy is not only offensive but is an oxymoron.  Taking into consideration the country where you are located, what would be more authentic would be to recruit a swarthy person of Moorish descent to portray Baltasar.  Another alternative to black face,  would be to neatly apply bronze colored make-up instead. 

 

In America,  under appropriate circumstances, black men will dress up as Santa Claus. But Santa in black-face would be unacceptable because it is, indeed, offensive. 


Some times towns here can get an actual black person to play Baltasar, and the kids do love it. They kind of see the black-face ones like fake mall santas, deep down they know it is not the real deal, even if they are getting gifts.

The actual black guy on TV channel 5 that has played Baltasar a few years in a row is kind of looked at as the actual real Baltasar. (kind of like the big-budget cocacola santa looks very convincing next to the ones on the street)

Just in many cases they can't get a black person to do it. Mainly in the smaller farmer areas in the central areas, where 99% of what you see are fields and old Spanish men walking sheep.

Thanks for the responses everyone.

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