For fuck’s sake… In case you haven’t seen it: this is what Berlin’s Schlosspark Theater deems good entertainment.
That’s right: the new year has begun (2012, by the way), and people think it is appropriate to put a little Blackface back on stage, since minstrel shows are always such good fun.
“I’m Not Rappaport” is supposed to be starting tomorrow, and if you feel like you have something to say to the people responsible, here’s their e-mail address: betriebsbuero@schlosspark-theater.de
I’ve sent them a short rant, and here’s the gist complete version of what I have written. It is not very explanatory and does not go into detail, but I don’t think people like those at the Schlosspark Theater don’t know what they’re doing or aren’t aware of the fact that this might be – wait for it – offensive (read: “Schlosspark Theater, you’re racist as hell, you dumbass cactusfuckers.”) – they just don’t care. That’s why I think people should tell them that there are some who actually do.
“Dear Schlosspark Theater Team,
I presume you have received a number of very polite protest messages as well as slurs directed at you for your stroke of genius, your version of “I’m Not Rappaport” (“Ich bin nicht Rappaport”). I have decided on a compromise. To believe that it is somehow appropriate or even funny in 2012 to stage Blackface is a mere testimony of either (or both?) impressive stupidity and ignorance or impressively blatant racism. A black-painted white person is not a Black person. A black-painted white person is inevitably a stereotypical and defamatory caricature of an alleged Black person. It stands in line with a Minstrel show tradition that has always and exclusively been amusing to racist white people and is linked to racist apartheid regimes like the U.S. Jim Crow South. It is an impertinence to have a white, black-painted actor play a Black character and thus, your staging of an allegedly “adorable tragic comedy” is nothing more than a dim-witted show of colonial racism. What this is supposed to mean? Cancel it. Or deal with the fact that you are now officially Berlin’s most racist theater company that should not be surprised by the ensuing boycott. And for latter, you’re most welcome.”
Or, in the words of Yo, Is This Racist: “Yo, you have to admit, though, the main thing that jumps out at you about “Germany’s idea of racism” is that it’s very, very racist.”
Update: The Schlosspark Theater has reacted to criticism on their Facebook page, and I quote: “[…] What is your problem? […] For your information: the actor Joachim Bliese will play the role of the ‘Black American’. He has already played it in the german premiere in 1987 at this house, and he has received expressed authorization of the author Herb Gardner. In the future, do we have to drop ‘Othello’ […] from our repertoire because we don’t have a ‘black actor’ in our ensemble? Do we have to forego Friedrich Schiller’s ‘Fiesko’ and Bertolt Brechts ‘The Good Person of Szechwan’? Would you accuse Anna Netrebko of racism, if she sung the role in Puccini’s Turandot even though she is not Asian? Or the role of Aida, even though she is not African? Is Gert Voss at the Burgtheater not allowed to play ‘Shylock’ in The Merchant of Venice because he is not a Jew?”
Moreover (brace yourselves…): “Very few theater ensembles in germany, Austria and Switzerland include black actors. If only because a theater repertoire’s few roles that can be offered to them during a season cannot justify a permanent position.”
[sources: Schlosspark Theater FB-page and their response to a blogger here]
I got BINGO! Well done, Schlosspark Theater – you hit the mark on poorly executed defensiveness and miss it on everything of relevance; all you have to do now is throw in some offhanded joke about fat women and “disabled” people.
Also: bonus points for putting Black actor in inverted commas… Obviously, Black actors are non-existent (like a mirage, really… I should have known). Anyone who’d ask a theater to actually let Black actors play even Black (let alone: leading) characters and not paint white actors in Blackface is just plain ridiculous – white people, the magical, universal default humans, act (and have agency and individuality and skills, and can, therefore, play every role), Black people just are (…well, Black).
I now have to realize that I should have sent them a full-fledged “Go Fuck Yourselves” e-mail; they are even worse than I thought. Do their PR people have some sort of right-wing extremist history and the Schlosspark Theater thought it would be awesome to give them a second chance (and that coming up with a pathetic “defense” of Blackface obviously is the sign of a successful german re-integration – which… isn’t all that far off, actually)? Or is this just the most disgusting self-revelation of average white privilege and overt racism I have encountered in a long time? I suspect a combination of both.
Why, thank you, Schlosspark Theater, for being so refreshingly honest and direct in your racism. It saves many people, including myself, a lot of time that should not be wasted on explaining the basics to you.
You know exactly what the problem is. You like the problem. You are racists and unapologetic about it. So: yay, more time and money for different theaters, and I’ll make damned sure everyone I know or randomly meet some place knows where not to go. I might even throw in an official report against you at some point – just to piss you off. This is my kind of “adorable tragic comedy.”
Update 2: well, the time for an official complaint has come, since the Schlosspark Theater cannot refrain from mocking the criticism it has been confronted with and keeps posting delightful pictures of the blackfaced character. I have written an e-mail to the official “anti-discrimination office” of Berlin’s Senate (…if only because of the fact that the Schlosspark Theater is at least partially publically financed; yet, it propagates racism and explicitly sticks to a discriminatory employment policy that is funded by this money…), and this is the address if you would like to weigh in as well: antidiskriminierungsstelle@senias.berlin.de
(I have also CC’ed it to the Governing Mayor of Berlin: der-regierende-buergermeister@senatskanzlei.berlin.de; and it might also come in handy to add some potential media contacts.)
Follow-up post (…round-up of the critique and commenting on the Blackface defenders racist’ “responses” …): “Reasonable” Racism.
stop! talking. 
So, what exactly is racist about a white person playing a black person? Can’t quite get the message in your ranting. Where’s the criticism? You just say it’s racist and repeat it a few times and that’s it.
Isn’t it kind of progressive that anyone, no matter what skincolour, can play another someone witch another?
This is not a 101 blog. If you’re looking for a basic explanation of racism in a post that states explicitly that it is not going to be an explanatory statement but a rant, I can’t help you. And if you’re unable to see racism in Blackface, its “defense” by Schlosspark Theater and lack basic reading comprehension, I do not want to help you – educate your damned self. Take a look at this (…the reading comprehension is all on you, though – and may I suggest starting with a Racism 101, where you’ll find out quickly why people can’t be bothered anymore to answer the old and boring “But, I think this isn’t racist, this is totally progressively colourblind”-white-response to everything … although a defense of Blackface as actually “progressive” is somewhat new and unexpected to me – kudos, new heights of dumbassery have been reached):
The history of Blackface. [TW for graphic racism]
Why Blackface is never OK, nowhere. [excellent explanation and commentary by CNN]
Racism 101.
No, actually, Blackface is not funny. [in german]
Germany’s history with Blackface and racist stereotypes in cultural productions. [in german]
I see nothing wrong with what they are doing. Lighten up dude.
…illustrative material of everything that has been said in the above and every other post about racism, in my comment and in the posts my comment linked to… ’tis like “groundhog day”, with extra-special argumentative rigour… m(!
First of all there is nothing rasistic about painting ones face black. Doing so, and behaving in a way that makes fun of what some people consider to be typical behaviour for uneducated/criminal/etc. people is another matter and will (and must!) not be tolerated.
But in this case I would first of all get a picture of what this play is about. And from what I have read, there is no offensive Intention.
I was shocked after I read how you reply to some of the comments, that is actually alot more offensive than what our theatre is showing.
anyone wanna reply to karl and his defense of “our theatre” for me? i can’t be bothered anymore, and simply telling him to fuck off would probably cause him to cry (…even though being cast as the angry, mean, prejudicial and incredibly powerful brown woman who is hunting artistic white men for purely offensive kicks is a lot of fun).
You can’t argue resonably.
that’s a black thing, karl…
and if you take a look at the Schlosspark Theaters FB page, you will find me answering to the same pseudo-counter-arguments over and over again, and then someone else of your team shows up and re-invents the world again by making the extremely relevant point some other racist has made 50 posts ago. so: nope. this is my space. this is not a 101 blog. educate yourself. i will not waste more of my time and energy explaining racism and history to you or anoyone else (yes, that means, all those comments in line and the ones people are about to make, saying “it’s not racist because, it’s not” and “don’t be so sensitive, [insert random racial/sexist slur]” will not be published and commented by me anymore, so safe your breath, people). look at the links. they’re totally reasonable. at least for reasonable people.
[EDIT: For illustrative purposes, I’m leaving this up. TW on the link – and the comment isn’t too funny either]
look what else happened in germany recently:
http://palisades-berlin.de/2011/09/12/ich-bin-ein-obama-die-partei/
some american people were very upset about this, understanding it to be racissm. but germans, who are in general extremely educated in terms of racism (for obvious historical reasons), were not,
Strange, isn’t it?
yyyeahhh, and here’s a list of what’s wrong with your last reply alone:
– “germans, who are in general extremely educated in terms of racism”
– “germans […] were not”
– “strange”
So yeah, with basically all of your premises wrong, here’s a hint for you: If all the other kids scream at you that you’re wrong, it’s *not* necessarily because you’re a misunderstood genius.
this… is so colossally ridiculous; and you say i can’t argue reasonably (when i didn’t try but mocked you – yet, you seem to believe that your statement actually entails some form of reasoning)… because some dumbasses from “die partei” (who have faced a lot of criticism for this poster, but of course you don’t know that or think so, because germans are so well educated when it comes to racism…) thought blackface is funny and printed it large scale and people like you thought it was funny, that’s totally OK. because you think they did not get any backlash, it’s totally OK. because the schlosspark theater keeps listing other theaters that do blackface as well, it’s totally OK. breaking news: no, it’s not. for the reasons people have stated many times and that can be easily accessed. and the ‘argument’: “look! those people do it too! and other people think it’s funny!!1!” is not an argument. people learn in nursery school that “but they did it too…” (*pout*) is a bad strategy.
why does it not strike you and your amateur debate team as interesting that, only on your FB page, about a hundred people of colour have criticized you and explained in great detail what the problem is, and yet, you think, as a white german man, you know so much more about this thing called racism (which german people are immune from, apparently – thank god for “our history”)? you presume that us-american people were upset with the blackface obama on the “partei”-poster. no, actually, a large number of Black people were upset, most white people didn’t give a damn. many black people are also germans, surprise! we come in all nationalities. and if so many people, being aware of colonial racism and the linked history of blackface, were upset by it except for the well-educated shoah-purged germans (who are now able to give other nations advise because of their history, as you seem to assume), that is the clearest example for pervasisve racism and does not speak for enlightenment at all. it is a sign of total ignorance. and that, dear karl, isn’t strange in the slightest.
i am a german person of colour, and you do not speak for me when you generalize “germans” – how fucking dare you?! and if you think that us-americans are silly for finding this offensive, i’d say: keep your own damned backyard clean before you talk about other people. when 150 (and this is the official number…) people have been killed since reunification because of their skin colour or “immigration background” or whatever makes them “non-german” or “non-white” in the eyes of some white people, when a group called “national-socialist underground” can travel the country for more than a decade until last year and execute not-identified-as-white-or-german people, conduct bomb attacks and robb banks, when parties like the NPD and others are still part of parlaments, and when autonomous right-wing extremist groups flourish on the base of the average everyday racism you and your blackface/”we don’t hire ‘black actors'” defense crew perpetuate, you should keep your mouth shut when it comes to racism in germany.
so, to sum up: you thinking that blackface is not a big deal because germans (who are automatically white and/or a massive, homogeneous collective, of course…) are so enlightened when it comes to racism, you thinking that the historically and presently racist, stereotypical and insulting caricature of a black person by a black-painted white person is art and worth the vicious defense it is getting right now, you thinking that all these silly people of colour are overreacting, offensive in their response and cannot argue “reasonably” (or maybe that’s just me? i am one of them, in any case), is part of the problem people have been addressing. it’s one aspect of white privilege. the blackface thing is just old school racism. and you’re bad at both. *shakes head*
farewell, karl.
To those having trouble grasping the problem, let me try and explain using the Schlosspark Theater’s reasoning:
Imagine Anna Netrebko having her eyes taped so they resemble an epicanthic fold (“Asian eyes”).
Disturbing image? Feels kinda wrong?
Same thing really.
Now imagine a hundred years ago, Russians had staged shows where they did the taping and “dressing up as Asians” thing, displaying and caricaturing them as dim-wits. This would be after they had mass-kidnapped and enslaved people from, say, China or Korea for 200ish years.
Would that exacerbate the disturbing aspect?
Yes?
Now look at this whole Blackface thing again.
Is there any reason why, in BERLIN of all places, anyone should stage a play and not cast a black person in this role CONSIDERING the historical particularities?
Questions?
Give’em hell, accalmie.
If what the Schlosspark said was even remotely logical, including the arguments left here by others who see nothing wrong with a white person blackening up, then there is no reason for the actor to appear on stage as a person of color. Same goes for the Othello claim, or any of the others the management cited. I’m actually a little surprised this show is being staged in Berlin, a pretty cosmopolitan city in my experience.
Blackface anywhere by anyone is wholly disgusting. I was even uncomfortable watching Spike Lee’s Bamboozled because of the caricatures it presented. It’s equally disturbing to watch someone of color try to reify the assumptions of whiteness. It’s wrong anyway you look at it.
Lastly, it’s not just about the visual depiction of the other, either. Back in the grand ol’ USA, people still think it’s fine to mockingly try and speak like others even if you don’t know the language. (I’m thinking of Rush Limbaugh trying to imitate someone who speaks Mandarin Chinese by making it up as he goes. But beyond that, in certain rural communities near Native American reservations, people still refer to natives as “injuns,” or in like sense, call someone a Mexican as an insult.) None of the aforementioned just is cool, man. It’s culturally chauvinistic and assumes the rightness of all sorts of subsumed power structures in society.
Ask these Schlosspark idiots and their apologists if it was acceptable for Prince Harry to attend a Halloween party dressed in Nazi garb and I suspect you’d get a different response.
“This is not a 101 blog. If you’re looking for a basic explanation of racism in a post that states explicitly that it is not going to be an explanatory statement but a rant, I can’t help you.”
und du? kannst du die arroganz in dieser antwort erkennen? (offensichtlich nicht)
was ich in dieser antwort erkennen kann, ist, dass ich kein mobiler bildungsapparat für rassist_innen oder solche, die meinen, es nicht zu sein, aber blackface als kunst betrachten (also, ähm, rassist_innen) bin – und, dass auch du den post nicht verstanden hast (daher auch deine fantatische argumentation hier, ne?). meine zeit und energie ist mir zu wertvoll dafür, immer die gleichen pseudo-argumente zu beantworten; erstrecht, wenn du einfach nur lesen können müsstest. dich hat auch niemand gezwungen, auf diesen blog zu gucken. es gibt hier aber (z.b. im followpost, in anderen posts zu rassismus, in den kommentaren…) und auf vielen weiteren seiten genügend angebote, die leuten wie dir und jenesaispas (rather: rien) mit fingerpuppen erklären, was das ding mit diesem rassismus eigentlich ist. dann kannst du gerne wiederkommen, kochshow – dein momentanes getrolle ist mir zu unterkomplex. /braune arroganz
what happened to trolling, people?! all i get is either “this isn’t racist, because, it really isn’t, because, it isn’t, because i am a white anti-racist and i don’t think it is”/”you’re totally arrogant/can’t argue reasonably, that’s why i’m showing you how it’s done with this one line – woocha!!!”/”[insert every racist and sexist term you can think of]”/”[graphic violent threat]”… come on, trolls, throw a girl a bone here (yes, the pun, ’tis intended) – this is just pathetic!
[Edit: Letting this through, because it is such a beautiful example of Derailing for Dummies: kochshow is bringing up the old tone argument repeatedly and expects me to react to it, despite the fact that s/he is not engaging with the actual problem and/or the critique one.tiny.bit.
If you’d like to see the templates for this level-1-trolling, see:
1. http://derailingfordummies.com/complete.html#educate
2. http://derailingfordummies.com/complete.html#enjoyit
3. http://derailingfordummies.com/temper.html#angry
4. http://derailingfordummies.com/complete.html#overemotional
5. http://derailingfordummies.com/complete.html#hostile
…and since kochshow is also very boring at it, i promise to not let him/her puke all over this thread anymore ;)…]
Dein Benehmen / Tonfall ist unter aller Sau. Was willst du damit erreichen? Verständnis für dein Anliegen? Oder willst du nur deine Empörung auskotzen?
OH MY GOD WHAT
Is there some kind of organized response to this in Berlin? Please let me know. This shit is completely unbelievable. Thanks for calling it out!
Also, bravo for your response to Karl and his disgusting insinuation that there are “Germans” and then there’s you. Just unbelievable.
thank you, f.! there has been a concerted effort to call out the Schlosspark Theater on their FB page, with e-mails and calls, and people have written complaints to Berlin’s Senate (which partially finances this public theater) – it will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow after this weekend of protest. There is even another theater in Berlin, “Deutsches Theater”, that is also staging Blackface (yeah, seriously… you just couldn’t make this shit up) – so i think you are absolutely right when you call for an organized response. the “initiative of black people in germany” has been very active, and i am sure there’ll be me to come. as to karl: i presume he thought i am us-american, and that’s why i’m so “sensitive” about this silly blackface-thing or something… it’s really mind-boggling to see that white german people like him cannot even fathom the thought that there are people of colour with a german passport, and that “germans” are not a homogeneous, white collective – even though many white germans try very hard to keep it white. not that i would want to be part of that anyway… ;)
thanks for your feedback and your support – also to Matt, Terence and kiturak :)!
What is up with this? Deutsches Theater too? And after the whole Sonneborn fiasco during the election???
I emailed the Senate.
Actually I’m from the US so I guess I am fairly primed to find this totally unacceptable. But it’s hardly just an “American” thing. Berlin’s citizens do NOT need to see themselves mocked in a racist way all over town. It’s fucking gross.
@ JeNeSaisPas, Carlos Moreno, Karl Adam Strauss, Kochshow und natürlich sowieso @Schlosspark Theater
Meine Fresse!! JEDES mal, wenn sowas passiert (himmelschreiende rassistische Kackscheiße im öffentlichen Raum) und die angemessene Reaktion in Blogs u.ä. kommt, denke ich: Das ist dermaßen offensichtlich ekelhaft und untragbar und widerlich, da KANN doch wirklich nicht noch irgendwer kommen und das Ganze nicht verstehen bzw. leugnen. Oder zumindestens nicht erstmal innehalten und denken: “Hm, ok, hier kommt eine heftige Reaktion von Menschen, die sich damit aus verschiedenen Gründen ziemlich gut auskennen und die uns darauf aufmerksam machen, dass irgendwas, was wir unproblematisch finden, ganz schön rassistisch sein könnte. Fühlt sich zwar jetzt doof an, so im Fokus eines unangenehmen Vorwurfs zu stehe, weil wir es bisher eben unproblematisch fanden, aber gut: Vielleicht könnte ja was dran sein, wir machen uns jetzt einfach mal die Mühe, das rauszufinden und die Argumente zu prüfen, die daür sprechen könnten, dass wir hier tatsächlich Mist gebaut haben und bislang auf diesem Auge blind waren. Und bis dahin, also bis wir uns mal ein paar Stunden Zeit genommen haben, uns mit den Bildungsangeboten der Experten und Expertinnen, die dazu zur Verfügung stehen zu beschäftigen, halten wir einfach mal die Fresse.” Aber nein – was passiert?! Es kommen sofort ein paar Vollpfosten (einschließlich der Schlosspark-Theater-PR) ankrakeelt und meinen, in wirklich JEDEN rassistischen, defensiven, abwehrreflexhaften, egozentrischen, arroganten, persönlich gekränkten, unreflektierten, schon tausend mal gehörten und widerlegten, bis zum gehtnichtmehr ungebildeten Standard-Fettnapf trampeln zu müssen. Und dabei fühlen sie sich auch noch besonders schlau und sachlich und vor allen Dingen auch noch total post- oder anti- oder was weiß ich, auf jeden Fall nicht-rassistisch…. Widerlich. Und so unglaublich dumm und borniert, dass es einem die Tränen (der Wut, versteht sich) in die Augen treiben könnte, wäre es nicht so armselig… LEST! DIE! LINKS! (die Euch hier netterweise schon in mundgerechten Häppchen aufbereitet werden) Es hilft wirklich. Ist zwar am Anfang etwas unangenehm, weil man sich ständig ertappt fühlt, aber es lohnt sich, wenn man schlau, offen und empathisch genug ist, zu verstehen was da steht.
@ accalmie
Vielen Dank für Deinen Blog und Deine Energie, diese Kämpfe sogar in Deinem eigenen www-Wohnzimmer auszutragen. Dank solcher Blogs wie Deinem, den dort geführten Diskussionen und den dort verlinkten Bildungsangeboten habe ich als privilegienstrotzende Weiße unglaublich viel über gesellschaftlichen und individuellen (auch meinen eigenen) Rassismus gelernt. Danke, dass Du die dafür nötige Energie aufbringst!
[Edit: again: letting this through as an illustration of the comments one gets after a week of discussion, article posting and letter writing. In case you were wondering: this is what I mean by “tilting at windmills”…]
You’re freaking out over nothing. This isn’t considered racist in Germany because they don’t have the history of slavery that is had in the US. Black Germans don’t get offended by such petty things. If you want to claim this is racist you have to claim the opposite is as well. Dave Chappelle dressed up as a white man, as did Chamillionaire in some of his music videos. You can’t have racism be a one way street.
[Edit: Clearly, I’m always glad when some white person tells me that
– racism is nothing to “freak out” about (vaguely insinuating by their choice of words that this is a mental stability issue),
– that my concerns as a person of colour are literally worth “nothing”,
– that i, consequently, am a bit silly, oversensitive and overdramatic, and that it is their right to judge that,
– that white people know what Black german people do or don’t do as a group (no matter what actual german people of colour, like myself, and many of their official political organisations say),
– that germany does not have its own history of racism against Black people (or anyone else, for that matter…?) and of colonialism,
– that racism obviously knows national boundaries,
– that getting offended by Blackface, people’s racist defensiveness and the explicit refusal to hire Black people is “petty”,
– that Dave Chappelle’s mocking of white privilege as a Black person – that resulted in repeated death threats against him – is the same as violent traditions and present reality,
– that the mere basic definition of “racism = prejudice + power” cannot be expected as common knowledge in 2012,
– and that people cannot, even after having been asked repeatedly, be bothered to actually read the criticism (that I have articulated in three consecutive posts) and to educate themselves (e.g., with the links that have been provided in the same comment section they are commenting in), before leaving exactly the same comment that every other racist before them has already done but think it is a very original point… Windmills all over the place.]
It’s so unfair you have to deal with this bullshit, accalmie.
People, is it so difficult to educate yourselves? Or is it possible that you think you must be right by virtue of, say, your skin color? Racists.
Oh, and if you have a problem with this statement come to my blog and complain or whatever and stop bothering accalmie with your bullshit.
♥