I can’t. Honestly, I just can’t. And Paige, I hope you read this.
Yep. This is what Paige Shoemaker and her friend Sadie Meier thought it was okay to do. You know, it wouldn’t have been blackface if you just had a mask on. My friends and I do a Boscia mask together pretty frequently. It’s made from charcoal, of course your skin is going to be black for those 30 minutes.
What you didn’t have to do was put up a Wu Tang Clan symbol and proclaim yourself to be a “nigga.”
Hey Paige, do you realize that I don’t even use that word, and I’m black? Not Boscia mask on my face black, but actually, I’m racially considered to be black.
A racial classification that was barely even seen in fashion, advertisements, and anything other than being made fun of until the past couple of decades. A skin color that totally goes against the Eurocentric standard of beauty that is still pushed on us every, single day.
And guess what? I wouldn’t change it for the world. Not just because you obviously felt the need to joke that it finally felt good to have my skin color (because I am not in any way, shape, or form a n***er), but because it’s beautiful. It’s beautiful because it’s mine.
So, Paige. Congratulations. Because people still figured out who you were even with that mask on your face.
Welcome to Kansas State University. Where breakfast in the morning is some K-State Family with a side of Racism. pic.twitter.com/Vmdkl5g27g
— Des. (@JustDesmund) September 15, 2016
You’re in education, Paige. You are the kind of person who is supposed to be teaching our children. You are a person who thinks that a skin color and a racial slur are funny. You aren’t qualified to teach anyone anything.
I hope that mask made your face feel great, because you have the kind of ugliness that nothing could wash off.