Talk about reinforcing negative stereotypes! Dressing up as Aunt Jemima and gangstas and serving fried chicken and malt liquor is EXACTLY the way I'd imagine a group of redneck morons from Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas would celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King.

So Aunt Jemima and fried chicken and malt liquor is negative? Damn, I'm white and must be leading a bad, bad life....and so must the 80-90% of blacks that enjoy it.

What rock do you live under, Anonymous? And where do you get that 80-90% of blacks enjoy fried chicken and malt liquor?

JohnS, is Guinness negative as well?

Do you guys know ANY black people? Because in my social experiences living in a multi-ethnic city, this kinda crap just isn't done.

Let me try it this way, Josh. Say you do have a black friend, and that person decide to have a house party to celebrate MLK's b'day. Would you show up with a bucket of fried chicken and malt liquor in an Aunt Jemima dress?

This was not your best post ever.

I think what makes this so galling isn't that it is stereotypical of a subculture but that it was posed as an affront to MLK Jr., and by extension to the civil rights movement.

Besides, I fail to see how Aunt Jemimah represents a subculture.

JohnS, the question isn't whether it's politically correct, which seems to be what you're getting at. These issues are certainly not politically correct to discuss.

Concerning your "what rock do you live under" comment, do not be naive. There are in fact cultural differences among us. Southern whites do like NASCAR exponentially more than the rest of the population. Sometimes we celebrate it, and sometimes we vilify highlighting them. My point here is that there's no consistency between deciding what is to be celebrated and what is to be ignored/shunned.

For instance, those with German heritage do in fact often have somewhat different culinary tastes, and those with African heritage do in fact often have somewhat different culinary tastes. It's unlikely that this is genetic (although I've read some scientific studies concluding that some Asian food preferences are), and much more likely that it's simply cultural. That doesn't make it "negative".

At least the students didn't celebrate by plagiarizing their dissertations (does Tarleton have a grad program?), something more apropos MLK than, say, Aunt Jemima.

Zach's point is well taken, and I think the shock value in this is that such things are seen as an affront to the civil rights movement.

However it is worth remembering that St. Patrick was representative of the Christian evangelical movement, but the day commemorating him is now simply a celebration of Irish culture.

JohnS, you're still only making the case that such things aren't politically correct. Of course I wouldn't show up at an MLK party with a bucket of chicken. But I'm not curious about whether it's accetable - that's obviously "no".

We've been over a lot of this recently, haven't we? E.g.,
http://www.intheagora.com/archives/2006/11/on_race_relatio.html

If people don't understand why "hey, but lots of black people _do_ like fried chicken!" is a completely lame response here, then I would again suggest that people check out the essay, "A Double Standard Worth Keeping":
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2005-05/25wise.cfm

Trying to make an analogy with St. Patrick's Day is pretty much a complete non-starter, in no small part because (i) there is no ongoing pattern of discrimination against Irish-Americans; (ii) the modes of celebration described are themselves ones used by Irish-Americans (malt-liquor-and-KFC parties are not, so far I have seen, the norm in African American communities on MLK, Jr. Day); and (iii) St. Patrick's Day is overwhelmingly a non-serious, excuse-for-a-party holiday, and MLK Jr., Day is held to be a day of remembrance and commitment to civil rights. (This last point is somewhat related to Zach's point above.)

Regarding the pix from the party, one bit that seems clear evidence that this party is malicious towards the African American community, and not celebratory of it, is the shot of all the beer bottles _in paper bags_.

Philosopher, I think (i) and (iii) are strong arguments, and one I'd agree with. However I would disagree with (ii).

Which part of it?

Actually, I'd agree with phil's points (i) and (ii), but not (iii). Many Irish do consider St. Patrick's Day a serious celebration of their heritage (even if the preferred way to celebrate it is to drink a little too much Guinness). Some Irish Christians actually use the day to remember the life of St. Patrick.

Nevertheless, MLK Jr. Day is generally regarded as a day for somber and earnest commitment to equality and civil rights, while SP Day is generally regarded as a day for partying. So while I felt that the Halloween party at Johns Hopkins was benign, this party in very bad taste.

Personally, I look for the day when a bunch of college kids can have a party where different ethnic groups all poke fun at each others' stereotypes, and no one gets their underpants in a twist. I think that would make Dr. King smile.

Very interesting story. Might I add that I know of a few parties over the last few years that have had a "white trash" theme to them, and were attended by people of all races and no one seemed to make a huge deal of it. They cooked venison (from a deer one of them had killed earlier in the month), had a trailer with a dog chained to it, everyone wore flannel etc etc, basically making fun of all those stereotypes. No one seemed offended and everyone had a good time, because they knew it was a joke. I would agree that maybe using MLK day to have this party was in poor taste but the actual theme of the party should not be an issue. The whole point of making parties with themes like these is to show how silly they are, not to actual make fun of a particular race. Also, I find it ridiculous that the school would launch an "investigation" into this party. What?! That's ridiculous, it doesn't look like anything was done illegally (unless of course some were underage) so just because people were offended does not mean there should be an investigation with students getting reprimanded for throwing a party with a particular theme.

Here is an interesting part of the story that is being conveniently left out. The party is 3-4 years old and was originated (complete with the underlying theme) by an African American student in order to allow his friends (majority being white) to party and celebrate with him.

I am not saying that this makes the party correct or any less offensive (that is for you to decide), however, it definately adds another log to the fire. It is something to consider.

Those who have complained about this party are right. There is no way to justify marking the observed birthday of a martyred civil rights leader by making fun of his race. It is, as Zach wrote, an affront to both King and the civil rights movement, and it does this in two different ways at once. First, it disrespects him as a man, but also as a symbol of the civil rights movement, which disrespects the movement. Second, considering what King's message was and that MLK Day is meant to honor both King and that message, these people made an unusually bad decision by celebrating the day with a party about what color King was. Even if the party had been tasteful and had avoided turning racial stereotypes into costumes, the fact that the partygoers ignored the man to note his color is offensive.

Also, a few people have pointed out that it is often considered appropriate or even positive to celebrate and draw attention to the cultures, practices, and traditions associated with other races or ethnic groups. There is an inconsistency in this, but it is not because black stereotypes are the single, anomalous situation in which attaching cultural traits (or alleged cultural traits) to "race" is inappropriate. There are too many people of every race who, without thinking about what they are doing, celebrate and take pride in the traditions of the nations or regions from which their ancestors came, not just because they actually practice their ancestors' regions' traditions (if the traditions have been passed down to them), and like those traditions, and have chosen to make them a part of their own lives, but because they realize that they are faintly related to the people who created the traditions. I do not think there is inherently anything wrong with people celebrating the culture or traditions that have actually been passed down to them (or passed "sideways," from people not related to them), but if they do it because they attach this cultural "heritage" to genetic descent or relation, that's a problem. It doesn't make any sense, and it spreads and reinforces the unfortunate idea that people of different races are inherently different in ways in which they are not.

I am a white female student at Tarleton. I wasn't at the party, nor am I defending it, but I think that all of the people posting comments like "EXACTLY the way I'd imagine a group of redneck morons from Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas would celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King." are being just as stereotypical as the people who threw the party. We are not all racist. Everyone enrolled at Tarleton wasn't at that party and I think it's a shame that one mistake is leading to another, the judgmental assumption that everyone at Tarleton is a redneck white trash KKK member and we won't ever amount to anything.

I am a student at Tarleton State University. I am not a "redneck," nor am I a moron. Are we being stereotyped because we live in "Texas?" It makes you wonder.

A quick history lesson for Philosopher. Before African-born people were brought to the United States as slaves, Irish-born Americans were receiving all of the negative stereotypes because they would work for next to nothing, among other things. Obviously the slaves took over as the most numerous minority. Time has basically displaced the negative connotations regarding the Irish, and we are starting to see the same transformation now that hispanic-born people are becoming the dominant minority. Look at how they are the brunt of the jokes now and are being stereotyped because they are the cheap laborers. So I think the comparison is valid, however, St. Patrick's Day and MLK Day represent completely different things, and it is insulting to have a party like that for a day that honors a man who fought so hard and was then subsequently assassinated. Regardless, even if this didn't happen on MLK day the media still would've blown it up anyway. I too am looking forward to the day when all the Civil Rights tensions are fully put away in the past just as the Irish discrimination was and we don't have to live through politically correct BS. Unfortunately it could come at the expense of hispanics. All I know is if a group of black people had a party discriminating and making fun of white people nobody would care and everyone would laugh.

Lauron & Lindsay: You are of course right that letting the patently moronic behavior of the people in those photos stand in for some general quality of Texans, or white southerners more generally, or any other group is an impermissible form of stereotyping as well.

Anonymous: Of course I know about that history; that's why I very intentionally put the word "ongoing" in my earlier post. That that image of the Irish has been completely transcended, as well as some others (as is happening e.g. with mixed success, for Jews), gives us hope for the future for African-Americans.

Eric: You're right, that would be lovely. I think there's a chance that our children, or at least our grandchildren, might even get to live in such a world. But we don't live in that world now, and if lose sight of the fact of present bigotry today, then that reduces our chances of a trans-racial tomorrow.

(Also, you seem to have forgotten that the bulk of the evidence of that Halloween party was that it was not, in fact, at all 'benign'.)

Many of us who worked for civil rights forty years ago take the matter somewhat more seriously, it seems, than this generation. I, for one, actually participated in minstrel shows in high school and found the "grown-up" versions of the same as presented by a respected civic organization to be very entertaining just a few years prior. Only after leaving home for college and being de-provincialized by what would now be excoriated as pinko-leftist librul faculty was I able to come face to face with my own racism.

Even after twenty years, having long before identified myself as a civil rights advocate, did I come to the shocking realization about myself that when I was in high school there were actually five high schools where I had lived, not the "three choices" to which I had habitually referred. The other two, of course, were the "colored" schools that were never a part of my experience.

Racist stereotyping is a subtle mechanism, not easily revealed or shed. One of my most frustrating personal challenges now, as a white male in my sixties, is having to consciously work to let black people under thirty know that I am not the closet racist they see me to be. The racism, you see, is in them in this case and I am tiring of having to keep walking on eggs around them.

That having been said, though, such sensitivity is the price I am still willing to pay as I continue to stand for the principles in which I believe. I fully expect to continue that frustrating level of patient self-justificatiion as long as I live. I regard it as the price of having been born white at this time in America.

When compared with the price of having been born black in America, the price that I am paying for being white is very low indeed. I wish that more young people could grasp that rather disagreeable fact. If they did, tasteless parties such as this would never be an acceptable practice for anyone of any age.

Lauron & Lindsay

I am perfectly aware that everyone enrolled at Tarleton wasn't at that party, and I assure you that I did not intend to imply that everyone from Tarleton is a racist, or a "redneck moron," either. What I wrote was "a group of redneck morons from Tarleton..." which is not to say the entire student body -- just the group attending the party.

If you reread my snarky post, I think you'll see that my intention in writing it was to point out that the ironic consequence of a party about reinforcing wrong ideas about black people was to perhaps reinforce very possibly wrong ideas that people in other parts of the country, and/or the world, may have about Stephenville, Texas.

Don't get mad at me. Get mad at the party-people.

I AM mad at the people who attended the party. At first I didn't think it was as big of a deal as the media is making it out to be, but I have read a lot of blogs and I can see that it has really hurt a lot of people. I will have a degree from Tarleton State University in less than a year, and I am concerned about what this incident will bring for me. Will I go to apply for a job one day and be turned down because of my school's now negative reputation? I wish that people could learn from this incident not to judge people, but I'm afraid a lot of people have already decided that everyone at Tarleton is like the people in the pictures.

I am Black student at Tarleton the reason we are so offended is because our school is majority white and to them mock our culture on MLK's birthday is disrespectful. The white students don't feel that they did anything wrong. Not all black people eat chicken or drink malt liquor. All of you who made comments don't really understand the struggles blacks go through. so you'll NEVER understand why we are so offended.

The fact that this has become such a big deal is ridiculous. It was just a party with some kids having fun... thats all. Just because they had a party on Martin Luther King Day and dressed up for it does not mean that they have no respect for black people. I cant believe it has come to this! It was just a party, they werent hurting anyone, and no one would have ever known that it went on if those pictures were not posted on facebook, so why is it all over the news?!?! Get over it already. it was a party.

I agree with Lauron, everyone is angry that we as Tarleton students are all stereotyping the African-American culture, where as the hypocritical aren't looking at themselves to realize they are stereotyping us simply for being Tarleton students. I wasn't at the party, nor am I the least bit racist or derogatory towards other cultures, but all of a sudden I'm 'a terrible person' and being told that I am racist and a redneck moron? Talk about stereotyping... all people from Texas are not unintelligent rednecks.

The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

This has been happenning for years. I enjoy the mockery being as though I am a black man. Why? Because as long as we keep doing things right and stay getting educated we as blacks become a threat. They are afraid of that so they do things like that to make thier coward asses feel better in private. We get them publicly think of black movies, comedians, etc; they don't hide nothing when it comes to getting on them. So my fellow blacks as long as you keep progressing they will keep hating. Dont feel bad feel proud because you now who you are as people. They want to be us anyway. Keep setting the example, the style and keep the bar of existing high so they have to continue to work. Its a damn shame how influential we really are. (this is not a blanket statement for all white people i just hate one who do stuff like this, to god be the glory always)...

This has been happenning for years. I enjoy the mockery being as though I am a black man. Why? Because as long as we keep doing things right and stay getting educated we as blacks become a threat. They are afraid of that so they do things like that to make thier coward asses feel better in private. We get them publicly think of black movies, comedians, etc; they don't hide nothing when it comes to getting on them. So my fellow blacks as long as you keep progressing they will keep hating. Dont feel bad feel proud because you now who you are as people. They want to be us anyway. Keep setting the example, the style and keep the bar of existing high so they have to continue to work. Its a damn shame how influential we really are. (this is not a blanket statement for all white people i just hate one who do stuff like this, to god be the glory always)...

Hmmmmmm....

I am a woman of color and I viewed the photos. 1. Actually, what can one expect from white kids who are bombared with such images in certain music videos, comedy or what have you? It has been my experience that what we thought about others change once we really get to know them (usually for the best). I have been pleasantly surprised by my encounters with other races.
2. I was disturbed by the Aunt Jemima photo. I felt that one was very insensitve to the plight of the women in those times.
3. Remember, they are college kids and basically will find any excuse to get drunk.
To close, people are just people for better or for worse, perhaps one should choose to be better more than worse. Does the university offer a couse in cultural/racial sensitivity? If not, they may want to consider it as part of freshman orientation.

I first came across this story researching for a class project. My team member brought it to our group's attention. When you come to a point in your life that you understand that people are people and will oft times act according to their nature, things like this do not give you high blood pressure. It really speaks to the "times that we are living in". This story has open a "can of worms" on more than the party on Dr. King's day.
All people, not just white and black....ALL PEOPLE...should respect one another, Period!!!! For non-black individuals, if you are going to mimic any other race or the sub-culture of that race, make sure you know what you're doing. Partying or being drunk is no excuse to disrespect. If you want to play at being a gansta' go find some Crips or Bloods and get lessons, then see how funny it is. If you want to dress up like “ Aunt Jemima, then research who she was. Put yourself in a position of servitude, having to take care of someone’s else’s family while you are not always able to take care of your own, then see how funny it is. Perhaps, the next time you want to identify with our race, you will do a little historical research and mimic some of our Brothers and Sisters who invented the vast majority of things that make your lives so comfortable today. Perhaps when you watch news from the nations capital, you might want to dress up like the Brother who laid out the blue print for the DC...based on the structure of buildings and monuments from ancient Keemet (Egypt). I could name them for you, but I won’t. I know the lineage I come from. As I said, you do the research. For my Bros. & Sista's of color, don’t let ignorance disturb you. What we have to do is give those who don't have a clue who we really are as a people something to respect. If we are disturbed by the images portrayed, then we need to get off our behinds and 1. hold all our artists accountable for the type of music, videos, and movies they put out, 2. Stop buying garbage to help someone “make it” at the expense of our race. 3. We have to start at home first. We need to teach our children that although it is great and wonderful to have an identity, they do not have to behave or dress like anyone one on TV, unless it is conducive to respecting themselves
Oh and don’t forget, while everyone is caught up in this incident, we still have men, women and children of all races and colors dying in a war that isn't suppose to be a war!!!!!

MLK is more protected than Jesus christ. A mockery of Jesus is made everyday, publicly I might add. More people are up in arms over some crackers being stupid. Personally I want to thank white people for bringing blacks to America for two reasons. First, I wasnt born in a disease infested place involved in a constant war and secondly, because we get to be a thorn in their sides ruining their fun. All we got to do is squeak and people bend ove backwards to lube us up.

Is that a fraternity cup shes holding?