Consolation, I get your point…I recall when I first heard that the Volkswagen Beetle was designed for a particularly reprehensible group in Germany , I couldn’t look at one without seeing one of that group’s notorious leaders in my mind. But that was MY problem, not the fault of every Beetle owner. If u look.at a hat and see a cactus, maybe that’s YOUR problem.
Belknap, I’m not familiar with the situation u mentioned; I was thinking more along the lines of how Columbia hired Eisenhower as president once he had defeated those Beetle designers.
"“Imagine if it were common for huge numbers of non-Christians to dress as Jesus and get drunk at bars on Easter. Why might that bother Christians? Don’t they want people to celebrate Easter?”
Why don’t Irish people get worked up over green beer and drinking on St Patrick’s Day? How come towns have Oktoberfests?"
I understand @Consolation 's point, but it don’t think that most people are celebrating to make fun of Irish people. I think it is an excuse for people to have some fun. While I can’t speak for other Irish American’s, I do find the Notre Dame Fighting Irish mascot mildly annoying. Perhaps that could be replace with a Touchdown Jesus mascot.
Most college kids, when they pick a theme for a party, are not trying to demean the group but want to create the fun of the area - the spring break in Cabo for a Mexican themed party, the Caribbean with a pirate themed rum party, rich and famous with a Breakfast at Tiffany’s or Gatsby party. Of course there is a line, and often the college kids cross it but not every time. Not every party with tacos and tequila is intended to be insulting to Mexicans. It is intended to be fun, to add atmosphere.
School sponsored events have an obligation to not be offensive. Private events? I don’t think so. The gray area is school sponsored groups hosting private events.
Well, these kids live in the same world as the parents in this discussion on CC – e.g., a world in which racial issues, ethnic stereotypes, outrageous statements, etc. are major fodder for everything from campus protests to social media threads to vote-grabbing ploys by politicians. (The more outrageous, the “better,” right?) So I’d say the chances that these kids just innocently thought they were recreating a Mexican restaurant theme and being no edgier than a St Patrick’s Day / Oktoberfest is pretty slim. I’m betting that in their own minds, they were being edgy and challenging taboos of the p.c. crowd. They’re smart kids at Bowdoin; they’re not homeschooling on Mars.
GM…if u haven’t noticed , “Europeans” and their descendants are always fair game. They have no right to be offended in the PC world.
The Present of Bowdoin could probably celebrate Patrick’s Day wearing wooden shoes, lederhosen, and a Greek fisherman’s cap, and guzzle green beer from a Viking helmet, and nobody would say a word.
Public school kids of this generation were taught diversity and cultural appreciation. How? By regularly dressing up, making crafts, and eating the specific cultural foods of the country or group they were learning about. IN PUBLIC SCHOOL my children had seasonal classroom parties during which they prepared ethnic foods with teachers and parent volunteers; made basic costumes out of paper bags and cardboard; created displays; and “celebrated” various ethnic festivals in a limited fashion–all without being a member of the relevant group. They made Native American vests and headdresses for Thanksgiving; Chinese kites and dragons for Chinese New Year; shamrocks and pots of gold for St. Patrick’s Day; sugar skulls for Cinco de Mayo; and a diorama sort of display for duwali, among other things. Not only that, but for spirit weeks they often dressed in costumes. I know for a fact my D wore a sombrero for a South of the Border Day. And let’s not forget all the themed parties they had in their foreign language classes! How many of our kids had to dress up in berets and such?
As I understood it, the whole point of these fun school events was to help them see different cultural practices as familiar and normal–things to be accepted and embraced, rather than things seen as “other” to be feared or disdained. Now that the American culture has expanded to include so many new influences and these things are familiar and normal, we demand the kids to be hands off and suddenly act like sombreros and the like are sacred cultural property? It’s a hat, not a religious object.
Oh, and I forgot about the annual “International Night” at the high school, which entails ethnic costumes and food. Our kids were socialized by trusted adults to enjoy ethnic parties. Being college students, they’re just adding alcohol.
When is a hat a celebration of culture, when a harmless costume, and when an offensive ethnic stereotype? How do we draw these lines so as to protect minority populations without doing so in a way that makes anything that hints at ethnicity evidence of racism?
It seems to me that some offenses are obvious. It would be pretty hard to defend blackface or making “gook eyes” while singing pidgin. On the other hand, it would be hard to find offense in someone of European heritage eating tacos or wearing a tourist t-shirt with Spanish writing.
The problem is, where do we fall in the middle? It it offensive for little white girls to wear dreadlocks after a trip to Jamaica? How about a Mulan costume at Halloween? At what age does that change? Can I dress as a wacky hippy for Halloween? How about a German in lederhosen? A Mexican in serape and sombrero? Is a Rasta style red, yellow green and black hat offensive? How about if one wears it every day in cold weather? How does that change when it’s worn to a party with fake dreads?
Is my blond blue-eyed Mexican husband allowed to celebrate with a sombrero? How about his dark skinned Guatemalan friend? Does my husband’s sister, who has Mexican citizenship and was born in-country get a bigger pass than her older brother who doesn’t have citizenship but lived there for longer and spends more time in Mexico? Where does my brown haired kid fall in all of this?
And if I don’t know the answers to all of these questions how can I expect students to be clear?
Context matters. A white fraternity hosting a St. Patricks Day party or an Octoberfest party is NOT THE SAME as a black fraternity doing it by encouraging attendees to “put your white on” or “bring a Ginger.”
I reject the sarcastic post upthread that Europeans don’t have a right to feel offended - as if European students are somehow morally superior and able to rise above being offended. Let’s get real. The reason Europeans don’t get offended is because under-represented groups know better than to host white ethnic-themed parties to mock white culture.
If there was a sudden surge of Black or Asian organizations hosting “Redneck Moonshine” parties, or “Drunken leprechaun” parties, the first people to rush to this board to complain would be the same ones who refuse to see the difference between “International Night” at middle school and “Conquistadors & Nava-Hoes” night at Sigma Nu.
this party was used as an excuse to get drunk and do deplorable things;p
Just kidding, but really… it was supposed to be fun, I still remember elementary school where I would make crafts and learn about other cultures.
Was it wrong for us to have a “Denmark Christmas” day in elementary school. The teacher brought typical salty black licorice(yuck) and twizzlers since no one likes licorice. Then we learned about the holiday and the traditions while eating food, or similar food, from the region and dressing up in clogs and other traditional clothing.
In today’s eyes that would be seen as mocking and laughing at danes, how stupid right?
We need to quit crying over everything, because there are actually issues in this world that aren’t stemming from college kids drinking tequila.
It’s mocking Mexicans. That seems pretty obvious to me.
Several people have raised the question of whether it was a Latino student who complained about this. Does that mean that you recognize that it would matter if it had been? Do you think that maybe members of minority groups might have some thoughts about whether something offends them or not?
By the way, although I’ve seen mariachi performers wearing sombreros, I’ve never seen anybody working in a Mexican restaurant wearing one.
And another by the way–Christian groups often get bent out of shape about misuse and mockery of Christian symbols.
For those who don’t want to click on the link, it’s images from the photo booth of the Austin Texas La Condesa Cinco de Mayo block party sponsored by Univision. A mixed crowd of people of hispanic and European descent with sombreros, mustaches Mexican flags and maracas.
(This is a genuine question. Is this harmless fun in the midst of a celebration of culture or offensive ethnic stereotyping?)
The same administrators who are evicting students from their housing and giving out social suspensions over wearing a mini-sombrero would be the first ones to applaud a showing of Andres Serrano’s “works” on campus despite any “hate speech” from Christian groups.
What does “mocking” mean to you? What would you say persons wearing blackface are mocking?
But I’ll give you an answer: the sombrero is a part of a stereotype of the dirty, lazy Mexican. See, for example, the Frito Bandito, many of the characters in Speedy Gonzalez cartoons, and the Mexicans who didn’t need no stinking badges. Now, of course, you may say that YOU don’t think of any of those things when you see a white person wearing a sombrero. But so what?
I fully support the display of Serrano’s work and I happen to be an atheist, but c’mon, we’re comparing hats commonly worn by entertainers (and others) in Mexico with an image of Christ submerged in the artist’s urine.
Hunt, the uproar over P#@% Christ was mostly its connection to the National Endowment of the arts…even people who didn’t like it and thought it was insulting didn’t want him punished…they just didn’t want the GOVERNMENT to reward him.