Al Jolson and Judy Garland were some of your best friends? Color me impressed.
:eek: Can you actually see me through the computer screen?
Why are you rolling your eyes at me? I expressed no opinion on the appropriateness or lack thereof of Armisen playing the president. 
I was only acknowledging that the OP may have seen a “white man” playing him on SNL at some point. And who knows if half-Hispanic meets his definition of white - I wouldn’t hazard to guess.
That is definitely the most adorable link I have ever followed out of the Pit.
No no, I’m a deer in gazelle-face.
All the trapped souls I keep in bottles are my friends! 
What? They’re not Black now?
They got better. [rimshot]
I don’t remember any outrage when Fred Armisen played Obama. And I would hardly call his make up blackface. Other than the hair they didn’t do much to him. And it was a damn good impression and not a caricature.
As an (almost) 65-year-old white man, may I just say:
WE’RE NOT ALL LIKE THAT.
Here in San Diego, a couple of teachers used blackface for Halloween. There was a controversy. Then there was a controversy over the controversy, as many blacks said “Meh” and said they weren’t particularly offended.
The teachers apologized, and most of us are using it as a “teachable moment,” explaining the history of blackface paint, the abuses of it in the past, and the relevance to our times.
The comforting thing is that there wasn’t really any “hysteria” in this case. Some low-level offense, but also some countering low-level non-offense. Pretty much everybody recognizes that it was a damn fool thing to have done…but it doesn’t rise to the level of wearing a Nazi uniform or a KKK bedsheet.
Somehow associating that image with 8-year olds shouting “Trick or Treat!” amuses me to no end.
One wonders what would have happened if they had gone out in blackface wearing Nazi uniforms.
Jews would’ve kicked their asses anyway?
Plausible. It’s easy for somebody in many states to grow up completely isolated from racism, and while you may be an iffy citizen for not knowing what’s going on in the country, you’re hardly a bad person.
Here’s where you overplayed your hand. Work on making your trolling more subtle and then try again (on a different board).
Why blackface for Holloween? Isn’t shitfaced enough?
Gazelle you say! I say Giraffe!
I do not live in the U.S. I was little aware of Vaudeville and read of it on Wikipedia. Do you mean to tell me that a population today which is barely able to find its ass with both hands in a week is yet so aware that each time they see blackface, they flip through their tiny mental capacities and say Dang, that blackface is painful to me due to the ghastly history of Vaudeville?
I think Mark Twain had some pointed words about those who knew little, but thought that what little they knew damn well ought to be known by all others. What is the point of a board like this if a question cannot be asked without nasty ad hominem attacks?
I am not at all bothered by the suggestion of racism. The term has been so badly abused and diluted that it means little more than Some thing I must say reflexively to thoughts I dislike.
Boring troll is boring.