Blackface Incidents in 2016 That Made Us Ask, 'When Will This End?'

It seems as if every year, there is Internet outrage over folks wearing blackface in some form, and this year was no exception. Thanks to social media, and the lighting-fast fingers of screenshotting individuals, we saw a ton of blackface controversies in 2016. Many of them happened with the help of an otherwise innocent beauty product: the clay face mask.

Interestingly, many of the perpetrators who made headlines this year were college students, or millennials with access to the Internet — an entity on which blackface’s problematic and offensive nature has been discussed ad nauseam. Perhaps they missed the memo?

2016’s blackface incidents remind us that not only should this practice be left in the past, but social media isn’t the best platform on which to exhibit such racism if you don’t want to face the consequences of your actions.

Here, seven tragic examples of blackface from this year.

Former Kansas State University student Paige Shoemaker found herself looking for a new college to attend after she and a friend shared a photo of them wearing black L’Oréal clay facial masks while throwing up “West Coast” hand signs on Snapchat. The photo probably would have been considered innocent, were it not for the caption, “feels good to finally be a nigga.” Shoemaker penned an apology claiming she and her friend are “are the most accepting and least racist people,” indicating that her standards for both are low.

A student at Abilene Christian University in Texas posed for a photo in what appears to be black face paint or a face mask, with giant fake red lips, serving classic minstrel realness on Snapchat with the caption, “this is why black lives matter exists.” Abilene Christian University expelled the students involved with the photo, and University President Phil Schubert released a statement saying, “I cannot emphasize strongly enough that this kind of hurtful behavior has no place on our campus.”

At Xavier University, a student took to Snapchat to (surprise! ) show off her supercool black mask or face paint with another uncreative quip: “Who needs white when black lives matter?” The incident was followed by a mock lynching scene showing a dashiki-clad skeleton hanging from a noose with a Trump-Pence flag next to it.

Charles “Brock” Denton at the University of Arkansas found himself the subject of an Internet firestorm when an image of him dressed up as Bill Cosby for a Halloween party thrown by his bros of the Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity went viral. In addition to wearing a colorful sweater, which would have sufficed, Denton decided to up the ante and cover himself in black paint, because why not? After the blacklash, Denton claimed in an apology to be unaware of the horrible history behind blackface, maintaining that he is definitely not racist in spite of his racist behavior. “I am the farthest thing from discrimination [sic],” he wrote. “As a matter of fact, I fight for equality every day. I have been writing a book for two years on what it really means to be a good person.” Perhaps now, he can add a chapter in that book about why blackface is simply unacceptable. Denton was expelled from his fraternity.

The black mud mask strikes again! At the University of North Dakota, a group of white female students took to Snapchat to show off their mud masks, captioning the image “black lives matter.”

Two students at Albright College in Pennsylvania were suspended in October after a video surfaced showing a white girl wearing brown face makeup twerking and mocking the Black Lives Matter movement. According to Albright College president Lex McMillan III, people of various races were involved in putting the video together, though it doesn’t make it any less offensive or wrong.

Another day, another offensive joke made at the expense of marginalized people. (Photo: Snapchat)

A student at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut was booted from school in September after sharing a photo on Snapchat of another student in what appears to be a clay mask, which she captioned “Black Lives Matter.” The student who appeared in the photo did not face any consequences. “This incident does not reflect the true nature of our university, where we have a long history of zero tolerance for any acts of racism, hatred or bigotry,” the university said in a statement.

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