So this question came about because the other night we had 8 teenage girls in our home getting ready for a halloween dance at school. It has been great for my daughter for our move to California for many reasons, not the least of which was that she is exposed to a much higher level of diversity. Of the 8 girls, 2 of them were caucasian. The others were a very broad assortment, including 4 that were either african american, or mixed race (mom black, dad hispanic, like that). They were talking about this because it was all over social media. One of the black girls mentioned that she didn't think it was any big deal, but another one said her mom and dad told her that it was very offensive. It kind of made me think, how is this viewed, and how it is propagated. If her parents had never told her that would it still be offensive. If we raised an entire generation and did not tell them what they needed to be offended by would a lot of this just die out?
Another question that we discussed was is "whiteface" the same as "blackface". They were split, and it was very interesting to hear them discuss it. I just asked questions along the way and listened. 15, 16, and 17 year olds can put together some good arguments, and think more deeply than people might think. I found it very enlightening. So I thought it would be a good topic of discussion here.
