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Tyler Bozak stirred the media pot these past days with his Halloween costume of Michael Jackson circa ‘Thriller’. It prompted memories of Raffi Torres, Patrick Kane and other references to those who dare don ‘black face’. It has prompted almost open commentary by many in the blogosphere and revisited old wounds and feelings from last year’s commentary on Raffi Torres as Jay-Z.
So wherein lies the problem? Many feel that this event has prompted the racism/racist debate yet again and how it is intolerable and insensitive and yes, ultimately racist. A hockey player, tennis player, or any other athlete with some level of fame is always under the glare at the best of time but with the lockout more people than ever are looking to pounce on the issue, any issue. Today was no different.
Personally I have a hard time with the argument because first I don’t think dressing as Michael Jackson or Jay-Z is racist or a form of racism, and second because I don’t think those condemning Bozak or Torres understand what they are saying.
The accusation is simple: dressing up as ‘black face’ is racist. I think that’s a fair statement but is what Bozak did ‘black face’? If you want the standard Wiki definition and history of ‘black-face’ click
HERE
First off comparing the stereotypical ‘black-face’ to impersonating (at least visually) a famous person seems extreme to me because based on cultural history they are far removed from one another. Bozak or Torres, by nature of the end result appearance, were not mimicking ‘black-face’, rather they were impersonating a celebrity. Whether this is a wise move is another question and I’ll answer it later but the problem comes because the term ‘black-face’ is used in the argument against them and the resultant commentary and opinion concludes that’s racist.
Racism/racist
From Meriam-Webster:
a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
From the Free Dictionary:
1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.
From Oxford Dictionaries:
noun
a person who believes that a particular race is superior to another:
adjective
having or showing the belief that a particular race is superior to another:
Here are three sources for the definition of ‘racist’. It’s a definition I would not want to be labeled with by anyone and I doubt that Torres or Bozak would either. I think that’s why there are a near equal number of people who are willing to jump to their defense as those who villify
Simple logic of both being ‘dumb athletes’ or ‘stupid’ is fair but perhaps not to defend their racist actions, at least that’s what some would want you to believe and are openly trying to convince you, dear reader, to think that.
I have often had discussions with my wife, like many of my married male friends, where this phrase to some varying degree, comes out “I’m not a mind reader”. I don’t know anyone who is and I know of none in the hockey media who are or proclaim to be. So how do we know Bozak is a racist? Clearly it’s a mindset and an action. Should those of Asian decent be offended at all the ninjas going door-to-door?
Do we assume that because some people have the standard of any attempt to look like a famous person, black, yellow, brown pink or green is motivated by racists beliefs is an act of racism? It seems to me that’s what I’m hearing. Bozak’s action is clearly that of racism because it couldn’t be anything else?
This is where I get stumped and take exception to the notion that Bozak is a racist. I have seen nothing from him to suggest he feels one race is superior to another. If anything the most obtuse person could think he feels that blacks are superior to whites because he dressed as a famous black person.
I don’t think Bozak showed any prejudice in his costume either he simply just dressed as a famous black person. As far as I know he did not purport superiority or denigration either way, he was just Michael Jackson.
In some ways it’s akin to men dressing in drag, is that sexist?
Sexist: discrimination on the basis of sex, esp the oppression of women by men
Sexist: behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex
Take the last definition of ‘sexist’ and apply it to racism and did Bozak foster a stereotype role based on race? If so it’s one who danced well, made groundbreaking music videos and influenced pop culture for decades.
In two countries as culturally diverse as Canada and the USA is dressing up as a minority culture racist or is it simply just offensive? Perhaps it’s how a person depicts a race, not just depicting them. I would think those that take the time to argue the racist case against Bozak would consider that last bit of logic.
What other notable people dressed in a costume, could have the ‘racist’ label attached to them?
Aubrey O’day went as Pocohontas, Miley Cyrus went as Nicki Minaj and Heidi Klum went as a Hindu god one year. Were any of them vilified?
It’s very easy to look at something and say ‘this bothers me’ and if Bozak or Torres’ costumes bothered you, that’s fair. However because it bothered you does that provide the right to slap a label from afar on that person, supported by an argument which does not use definition of the label properly.
In a famous first amendment case in 1964
Jacobellis v. Ohio the judge on the supreme court, Potter Stuart, said this:
"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that."
Bozak may be guilty of being tasteless, a poor judge, uncultured, inconsiderate, and rather lowbrow in humour and presentation but not a racist. As some one who has lived in a multi-cultural country for over 40 years, experienced the cultural shift of Vancouver as it happened, and set foot on every continent on this planet except two, I am like judge Stuart. I have seen racism and Tyler Bozak in a Micheal Jackson costume is not that.
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