Brittany Cooper, in her article for Salon writes, “By turning our attention to the ways that white supremacy devastates other communities of color alongside Black communities, we position ourselves to see fully white supremacy in all its machinations.” In other words, Paula Deen is “devastating” people with browner skin through her shout out to I Love Lucy. Paula Deen, and her son in costume, is “white supremacy in all its machinations.” Are you fucking kidding me?
If I go as an Oompa Loompa for Halloween, am I in “Orangeface”? Am I oppressing orange-skinned people everywhere? The problem with calling everything racist is that it begins to seem ridiculous – it looses any sort of depth or meaning. Even if Paula Deen does harbor some racist tendencies, is her love of a 1950s sitcom really a source of evil and oppression? Is it really representative of historical inequality? Or maybe, just maybe, is she just thinking about Halloween costumes?
We need to stop calling everything racism. We need to stop giving a shit about skin color. Who gives a rat’s ass if someone is painted red, brown, green, or plaid? Does that mean anything? If I beat someone with a stick and yell “it’s because you have blonde hair!” Well, then you can say that I have issues for a specific type of person. But, if I walk around with a blonde wig, does that really mean…umm, how does Brittney Cooper put it: “Brownface in the Americas, particularly as enacted among Southern white people, must be understood as part and parcel of a longer history of Blackface, as a form of cultural performance whereby white people seek to work out their anxieties about racial identities that differ from their own.” Oh yeah, that blonde wig I put on means that I need to work out my anxiety and my identity over being a brunette.
Stop adding hate and drama where there is none. If you are offended by a Halloween costume and a little paint, then you are a weak individual. And stop thinking it's ok to throw terms like “white supremacy” around, because that offends me (but that doesn’t matter, because I’m white, right?). Finger-pointers seem to think it’s ok to say “them”, “they”, and link all white people together. It’s hypocritical bullshit.
I’m not racist because I don’t give a shit about skin color. But I am certainly tired of hearing people whine over crap that just doesn’t matter. That kid that shot up the black church? Yeah, that matters. That matters a lot. Bobby dressed as Desi? That shouldn’t even make the goddamn news. You know what? I’m going to get a tan if I want, use bleach on my face if I want, be an Oompa Loompa if I want, and you’re just going to have to find a way to be okay with the skin you have.
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/08/paula_deens_last_lesson_what_her_familys_brownface_disgrace_reveals_about_racism_in_america/