# Right, which white Virginia politicians didn't wear blackface in college? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 7, 2019, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-which-white-virginia-politicians-didnt-wear-blackface-in-college/829101 "2019-02-07T02:56:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-which-white-virginia-politicians-didnt-wear-blackface-in-college/829101/21 "2019-02-07T18:09:17Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > The guy dressed as a rapper and wore black makeup. So what? As Thomas Jefferson [once said](http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_religions40.html), “It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” Nobody gets hurt by another person’s makeup. A few years ago, there was nothing offensive about this. Anyone else remember the scandal when Ted Danson dressed up in black face to roast Whoopie Goldberg? That was in 1993. So, your recollection of when black face started being offensive seems a tad off. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-which-white-virginia-politicians-didnt-wear-blackface-in-college/829101/22 "2019-02-07T18:11:54Z")
Danson and Goldberg were a couple at the time, she was cool with it, and the event was a Friars Club roast, where raunchiness abounds. Context does matter but is not overriding. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-which-white-virginia-politicians-didnt-wear-blackface-in-college/829101/23 "2019-02-07T18:19:14Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Danson and Goldberg were a couple at the time, she was cool with it, and the event was a Friars Club roast, where raunchiness abounds. Context does matter but is not overriding. Doesn’t change the fact that it was a considerable scandal at the time, even with that context. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-which-white-virginia-politicians-didnt-wear-blackface-in-college/829101/24 "2019-02-07T18:54:34Z")
Looks like the Republicans are also getting skeletons exhumed from the closet. > **[GOP state senator in Va. oversaw yearbook with racial slurs, blackface photos](https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/428975-gop-virginia-senator-oversaw-yearbook-with-racial-slurs-blackface-photos/)** > > One of the top Republican lawmakers in Virginia served as managing editor of a 1968 yearbook at Virginia Military Institute that contained racist photos and slurs, The Virginian Pilot reported… ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-which-white-virginia-politicians-didnt-wear-blackface-in-college/829101/25 "2019-02-07T18:57:10Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Looks like the Republicans are also getting skeletons exhumed from the closet. > > [https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/428975-gop-virginia-senator-oversaw-yearbook-with-racial-slurs-blackface-photos](https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/428975-gop-virginia-senator-oversaw-yearbook-with-racial-slurs-blackface-photos) I have little doubt that oppo researchers are combing every single yearbook of every prominent politician in Virginia, and most likely other states as well. The next few weeks will be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-which-white-virginia-politicians-didnt-wear-blackface-in-college/829101/26 "2019-02-07T18:59:21Z")
You know that scary new world we’re entering, where anything you’ve done or said on social media can be discovered and come back to bite you years later? Turns out we’ve been living in that world for ages. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-which-white-virginia-politicians-didnt-wear-blackface-in-college/829101/27 "2019-02-07T19:20:34Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > And nothing has changed in this regard since 2008. Either you are mistaken about the year, you’re neglecting that the kids didn’t wear the makeup, or you were in some racist backwater timewarp. That is well within the era when those kids would have been on the news. Nope, none of the above. The kids at my school were not on the news. Of course, the media was not as intent on attacking, doxxing, and making death threats against children in 2008 as they are now. It’s remarkable how liberals can make up a rule and quickly convince themselves that everyone at all times and in all places, with the exception of a few horrible scumbags, has always believed in the same rule. Just as liberals can’t fathom the fact that Obama and Hillary were opposed to gay marriage 10 years ago, they can’t imagine that blackface was no big deal for most people. In 2008, Hollywood gave us a big-budget movie named _Tropic Thunder_ with an actor is blackface. He got an Oscar nomination. The movie was a hit with critics and audiences. So in 2008 Hollywood liberals loved a white guy in blackface makeup, and the studio happily used the minimal “controversy” as free advertising. Now stories are emerging that more celebrities wore blackface makeup at some point in their lives. Obviously they were not opposed to doing it, if they did it. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-which-white-virginia-politicians-didnt-wear-blackface-in-college/829101/28 "2019-02-07T19:44:14Z")
Josh Marshall has a good writeup on the overall situation: [Ghosts and Shadows of the South - TPM – Talking Points Memo](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/ghosts-and-shadows-of-the-south) And trying to take a larger look at this, maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that so many high-ranking white officials in VA were involved in overt displays of white supremacism as young men. In the 70s and 80s, it’s quite likely that most wealthy (or even just upper middle class) white children in the South attended the very common “segregation academies” – private schools that sprung up after segregation was outlawed to educate white children whose parents didn’t want them rubbing elbows with black children. Most of these folks probably grew up in an environment in which white supremacism wasn’t just tolerated, it was actively taught and celebrated. So I expect there’s a lot more to come, and we’ll be seeing it in many, many more Southern states’ high officials. As far as I’m concerned, this is a good thing overall, even if it’s painful in the short term. Anything that brings white Americans closer to realizing how profoundly tolerant American society has been, and even still is, of white supremacism, is a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-which-white-virginia-politicians-didnt-wear-blackface-in-college/829101/29 "2019-02-07T20:16:29Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > In 2008, Hollywood gave us a big-budget movie named _Tropic Thunder_ with an actor is blackface. He got an Oscar nomination. The movie was a hit with critics and audiences. So in 2008 Hollywood liberals loved a white guy in blackface makeup, and the studio happily used the minimal “controversy” as free advertising. Yeah, the whole point behind that character was that it was wrong for him to do blackface. Which they recognized in the movie. 11 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-which-white-virginia-politicians-didnt-wear-blackface-in-college/829101/30 "2019-02-07T20:37:15Z")
First of all, isn’t a white guy trying to look like Michael Jackson simply returning the favor? Seriously though, I do think that there is a fundamental distinction to be drawn between “generic” black face, particularly in a minstrelly context, and facially augmented masquerade of an actual individual. In college (in Michigan) one friend of mine (white) once did a full-up Halloween costume of Jimi Hendrix, (hippie gear, guitar, headbanded afro, and, yes, darkened face.) Mind you, if this guy ran for office, there’d be a hundred reasons I wouldn’t vote for him, but that wouldn’t be one. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-which-white-virginia-politicians-didnt-wear-blackface-in-college/829101/31 "2019-02-07T20:55:12Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Looks like the Republicans are also getting skeletons exhumed from the closet. > > [https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/428975-gop-virginia-senator-oversaw-yearbook-with-racial-slurs-blackface-photos](https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/428975-gop-virginia-senator-oversaw-yearbook-with-racial-slurs-blackface-photos) That was from the year 1968, which was when VMI was first integrated, I think. Tommy Norment says he’s on the record even back then as being on the side that \*favored \*integration. (And was one of the leading voices to allow women, in 1997). If true, not a bad closet to be in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-which-white-virginia-politicians-didnt-wear-blackface-in-college/829101.md?page=1)