Racism or Harmless Joke?
This post is a English translation of the last one I did in Portuguese. There is a video in the Ill Doctrine website, which I find super cool, called "How to tell people they sound racist." Recently, I was wasting time on Facebook, looking at pictures and such, when suddenly I came across a picture of a good friend of mine (who is white) dressed in Nega Maluca (or the Brazilian equivalent of black-face). I confess I was a little bewildered and, not knowing how to respond immediately, I stopped a little to reflect. Should I leave a comment saying I thought the picture was a little racist? or Should I leave it alone, because it was only a joke? I know my friend for years. I know she is not racist . But this picture seemed so problematic that I felt compelled to show my point of view. After all, it may be that my friend had not realized that what she considered a simple joke can be very painful or offensive to black people. But ho...