Liz Cambage is copping flak for calling out racism: that's just wrong

Liz Cambage, ambassador for Racism It Stops With Me, had two options when she saw the posting by Alice Kunek. [A] She could make a big deal of the offensive act or [B] She could go to Alice Kunek and quietly explain the perceived racial meanings and ask her to remove the posting. Liz Cambage chose to do the former thereby creating both a media and online frenzy which has created disharmony amongst team mates without I suspect advancing the cause. I just wonder whether this action has been worthwhile given the need for team cohesion. Personally I think she made the wrong call.

Nah. This just isn't blackface. It is if you consider any act that highlights race to be racism, without any denigration or acting of stereotypes. You see blackface was a specific practice done to intentionally denigrating African American people. This is copying the physical characteristics in an effect to mimick a specific person. The Wayans brothers movie "White Chicks" surely must be something you find offensive, considering the purpose of the imitation is actually to denigrating young white women. If this person had then proceeded to act in manners of negative racial stereotypes then absolutely you could say it is. If this was Anerica that has a history of this actions it would be one thing. But it's Australia and it does not.

Again no merit, particularly as you proved that point

But it is incredibly tough to say that Australia doesn't appreciate, and hasn't at least partially adopted, a lot of aspects of US culture when we're talking about a professional basketball players impersonating an American Rapper?

I find it offensive that you think I'm too stupid to find something out on my own. Please apologise for your offensive comment.

Exactly, but if you read the second line that doesn't give merit to you finding offence. Because I find no merit in it I'm not going to apologize for pointing out something you should have been able to figure out for yourself.

Chapelles Show was Chappelle poking fun at the stereotypes black people have of white people. He was making fun of the blacks making fun of the whites

Well exactly. It's extremely offensive to show the soles of your feet in Thailand or eat with your left hand in India but if I did either of those things in Australia I wouldn't expect some clown to arc up and accuse me of racism, cultural insensitivity and all the rest of it. (If I were in Thailand or India then go for it. Guilty as charged.) Bloody hell. It's getting out of control. You won't be able to say anything soon. Case in point was the Mexican themed party at Sydney University that was canned because someone objected. Worse than the people complaining though are the people that give in to the whinging instead of standing their ground.

I find your comment offensive, therefore it is offensive. No if's or but's. Please apologise for your offensive comment.

Seriously your straw man is that we need to protect ourselves from the the black guys that are all running around calling people white C and violently threatening/robbing them.

The issue with that is that our economic and social standing is built upon what our ancestors did. Take Australia for instance you either have to legitimately believe that indigenous people are, as a collective, inferior in terms of reliability, morality and intelligence given incarceration rates, average wage and education or that the economic and social construct put in place by our ancestors disadvantage them. In utopian society we would both celebrate and ignore our differences but in the real world we do need to understand that there is still a level of subjugation. The "jesus" well it depends where you are (same with Islam) there are plenty of places if you make a jesus joke it goes down like a lead balloon because of it's social importance.

Actually it is a fact. If something has caused offence to someone it is offensive. The relative merits of if it should have caused offence is irrelevant to that fact.

Well logic would suggest that as soon as something has caused offence it is by definition offensive. Now it may not be specifically offensive to you, and it may not be something that society as a whole needs to address, but on a factual basis it is offensive.

Jack, I would like to talk to you. Face to face, because the written word is so easily misinterpreted. There is so much I do not understand about what exactly determines an Aboriginal person. Discussion has been stifled under the guise of racism , that has not only stopped genuine learning but has also adversely impacted on the how many Australian view the issue of a persons aboriginality. The law says something along the lines of ,that any person can claim to be aboriginal ,so long as they can establish a proven bloodline, no matter how distant. The old adage, 'self interest will out' might be the reason many Australians question the amount of financial and social assistance granted people claiming aboriginal heritage regardless of the time lapse. This is particularly the case in the cities, and not those in desperate need of assistance who live in remote aboriginal communities . Many Australians can lay claim to having say, Spanish or Italian bloodlines in their DNA, but neither think nor refer to themselves as Spanish or Italian. However, a person with say either a Spanish or Italian father, and an aboriginal mother with vague links many relationship removed from a tribal heritage can call themselves aboriginal. Many people do not understand that , but cannot discuss the matter without being labeled racist. Will our great grand children still discuss this, or by then will everybody simply be called Australian.

There is a different between someone having hurt feelings and someone throwing the R word around to try and shut someone down. I am not a white male, but I dont take offence to every single thing that may or may not be deragotary to my 'race' as I know when something is a joke or doesnt have dishonest intentions. Did this woman who dressed up as Kanye do so to cause controversy? Bring down an entire race? Was she being 'r ac ist'? No, no, no. We have every right to call someone out for being too precious and pedantic. To me, the R word has lost all meaning as people use it these days to shut people up instead of actually tackling the problem. If i'm r ac ist for seeing nothing wrong with a woman dressing up as someone famous and poorly applying make-up to look as similar as possible then call me a big fat ra c ist as much as you want.

Northerner, TWAS asked "what cultural significance does blackface have to her" Blackface has cultural significance in America. Not Australia. You are still talking about cultural significance in an entirely different continent (Europe), that is not Australis. TWAS' point regarding Radike is very much.. on point.

Every opportunity Australa gets to prove it simply doesn't get it, it takes with both hands. Listen to yourselves, mental gymnastics going on everywhere to try and "prove" blackface is ok, shouldn't be called out in public, feelings don't matter so why should we care? Honestly, you'd think that after Goodes, many of you would've learned but I guess the crux of it is, you don't think you have to because it doesn't affect you so it doesn't actually exist.

Haha yes, the "N" family. Gold. Almost as funny as the blind kkk leader who didnt know he was black. Kaks, Muz and Jameswm have all hit the nail on the head on this issue. Just curious, but what is it called when a black person calls a white person a "white c" and threatens violence because said white person didn't give them money or cigarettes? I have never called a black person a racist name in my life, yet have been called a "white dog", "white c", yet I'm the one who is supposedly racist because I'm white? I'm not generalising here either as I have some good friends who are black, just wanted to provide examples of it going the other way. It seems there is a lot of hate for white people, and this is racism in itself disguised by outrage at racism that isn't there in most cases.

I have no idea if the following is relevant ,but it is not uncommon these days in contemporary not historical movies ,to see a black person refer to another black person as a 'nigger'. That language also flows every day through popular rap dance lyrics. What's it mean, I don't know.

Maybe because people of dark skin are the ones that are usually the ones subject to racist abuse and humiliation (have you heard of Adam Goodes by any chance)? ‘Kunek didn't mean to cause offence'. Sure, but she's one great big idiot. I guess she had to learn the hard way – don't do ‘blackface’, under any circumstances. And if you want to know why, get yourself an education and read up on it.