Mykki Blanco speaks about race in whiteface
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- Опубликовано: 25 янв 2025
- For their August guest edit, Mykki Blanco steps behind the velvet rope into a powerful conversation on race with this playful and eloquent visual ‘WYPIPO’: dazd.co/2Lx7lTB
Credits
Featuring:
Mykki Blanco
Jean Paul Paula
Sja'iesta Badloe
A film by:
Jean Paul Paula
Florian Joahn
Brian and Karl
Production Company - COMPULSORY.
Produced by Carla Steinberg
Executive Producer - Chris Toumazou
Director of Photography - Joel Honeywell
Styling by Jean Paul Paula
Make-up by Jimmy Owen Jones
Hair by Nathan Phoenix
Art direction by Florian Joahn
Set design by Alun Davis
Sound - Michal Kuligowski
Dazed
Creative Producer - Bec Evans
Executive Producer - Thomas Gorton
“I'm In A Mood” by Mykki Blanco
Written by Michael David Quattlebaum Jr.
Produced by Jeremiah Meece
Published by Mykki Blanco LLC (ASCAP) admin. by Kobalt Music
(P) 2016 Dogfood Music Group
Courtesy of Dogfood Music Group in association with !K7 Music
one of the best artists working in multiple fields at once and pushing them to their limit today
by perpetuating racism?
I really appreciate the work Mykki does. For me it brings up a really important question, how often am I talking to people different than me? Frankly, it's exhausting talking to family and childhood friends about race, homophobia, gender identity. Most of them have absolutely no scope of understanding, even my liberal friends, but I think it's so vital in order for things to change for people like us to engage others. And in my experience, it's the only way that I've ever been successful in changing someone's mind.
@Ryan bravo to your comment
I have LOVED Mykki from the moment I first saw Wavvy....
A huge amount of tension riddled "discussion" (as in people having a hard time to chew two sentences back to back) in a convenient nutshell. Thank you.
god this cut is so hectic, the handheld-stuff and the fades and all, why cover a strong message in all this avantgarde videoediting bs?
LMAO
this is absolutely legendary!!!! everywhere i look mykki blanco puts out important and necessary content, we stan so hard 💕💕💕💕 ✊🏼
igor known, shut up moron
THIS MESSAGE SLAPS! FUCKING THANK YOU MYKKI BLANCO!! THANK YOUUUUU
Adorando ele como editor shot out pra as brasileiras Linn e Liniker .
Genius!
Mykki Blanco thanks
A poignant video, and Mikki Blanco's ability to convey feelings representative of the dispossessed is palpable as always. I wonder who this video is speaking to, black or white? I have a feeling that in a practical sense, it's meant for white people, so it would be good to examine its pragmatism. By appropriating whiteface and words like "wypipo" (counterparts of racist things like blackface and slurs) alongside emotional appeal, Mikki cultivates controversy and attracts attention towards this issue. If we assume that structurally and sociopolically white people don't deserve the benefit of respect because they otherwise enjoy structural and sociopolitical power, then all is fair in love and rhetorical war-- especially when the dominant theme of someone's life is a one-sided power struggle between races. But if "whiteness" is defined by misunderstanding, even fragility, then why are we making disrespect the paradigm? If white people are ignorant and fragile, then they are like children. So wouldn't the solution be inviting dialog and a mutual basis of understanding? How do we treat a misbehaved child? Do we mock him? Use his bad language against him? Does it matter whether his parents, grandparents, and ancestors were abusive assholes? This approach isn't even about protecting the feelings of an individual (although that should be important, too), it's about how you connect with an antagonist. That connection needs to occur because we can't force somebody to act a certain way or believe in something; they must decide for themselves and make a real internal change. One of the best parts of this video is the end, when Mikki realizes that until white people are having "these conversations" among themselves, racism will continue. The best way to foster that is to make it very comfortable and desirable to have such discussions, but that is not the tone we have been cultivating on social media or anywhere else, really. It's mostly been polarizing rhetoric, a 'win-at-all-costs' mentality (but what are we winning?), and resignation towards antipathy, ridicule, tribalism, and ostracizing people who even want to just discuss these dynamics (such as myself). That's the toxicity of our attitudes today, and it's killing us more than it kills those we disagree with. When we realize that changing the perception and attitudes of those we disagree with through dialog is how we can make this world better, then it will. With the situation mired in pessimism over nothing seeming to work, I'll leave us with quantifiable evidence of my philosophy: www.npr.org/2017/08/20/544861933/how-one-man-convinced-200-ku-klux-klan-members-to-give-up-their-robes
"it's about how you connect with an antagonist." First you need to give up the idea that there is an external antagonist that is based on biology. Racism is dependent on the notion that an evil other -- an alien who is inherently different from yourself -- exists. Who is the "antagonist"? Do we need an antagonist? How antagonistic is this video on a scale of 1-10. It give it at least an 8.5.
Cute. He's so adorable with that whiteface.
Ironic how this is ok but black face is so wacist😂😂😂😂
White people, why not try having the conversation about privilege amongst a group of your peers as suggested in the video? Instead of getting indignant about this satire. Ultimately you avoid the topic of race like the plague because you know you’ll be implicated. This country caters to the white race, that’s what we’re asking you to acknowledge. That’s square one.
Stop presuming that there is a bad race. THAT is square one.
EWKification At no point did I suggest there is a “bad” race. I invite you to truly consider how America offers a drastically different reality to its white citizens compared to its non-white citizens. This pervades every aspect of our lives. The point of privilege is that you remain largely unaware of these differences because you lack a minority perspective. Yet when a Black person distinguishes the differences you’re too busy getting personally offended to actually do anything proactive. We can’t even start the conversation if you’re unwilling to accept how this country provides a clear path for whites and one littered with obstacles for Blacks.
Why assume I lack a minority perspective? How do you know I haven't lived for more than a decade in countries where I am a very slim minority? How do you know I don't speak 3 non-English languages?
"White privilege" is 2 things.
1) It is just a re-branding of "black under-privilege", because it became politically incorrect to use the term "under-privilege". But "privilege" doesn't mean NOT under-privileged. It means you are in a very slim minority that is heads and tails above the majority. It does not mean you are just among a majority. You will find that if you give example of "black disadvantage" whites will generally agree. However, if you accuse them of being billionaires -- which is what "privilege" more accurately means -- and they are struggling to survive, they will take umbrage.
2) White privilege is a decoy and human shield for REAL privilege, for the most powerful, influential, and astronomically wealthy individuals who actually craft policy, are responsible for wars, economic downturns, and environmental destruction. You are like the serfs blaming everything on the peasants while the aristocracy laughs its way to the bank.
Notice how carefully this video tried to detach privilege from it's real meaning of class? Who does that serve other than the most powerful?
Go to any other country, as I have, and you will see that race and especially "white privilege" have absolutely nothing to do with who is in power and runs the show in them. Historically, of course, it does in America. But, hah, if you are white and working class and born in the last half century, your privilege isn't worth shit. It is NOTHING compared to having lots of money.
I'm sure you are aware that there are more white children living in poverty than black children in America, and more whites are killed by the police than blacks. This, of course, is merely because there are more whites than blacks in America.
White privilege is being killed by the police and everyone assuming you deserved it, and nobody knowing your name. Can you, off the top of your head, name a single white person killed by the police? White privilege is when you go to jail, or if you are not successful, everyone blames you for being a fuck-up. White privilege is being poor and everyone assuming you are a loser.
You have fallen for belaboring a convenient scapegoat. Being working class white in America is a double whammy. The real privileged shit on you from on high, and POC shoot you from all angles and you are blamed for everything while, guess what, you have to pay back students loans, and nobody is giving you a job just because you are white. All that is just making the scapegoat for the real man behind the curtain.
Don't look at that man behind the curtain. Look at the white working people. They are the TRUE Rockefellers amd JP Morgans! The working man is the Robber Baron. Riiiiiight.
If your enemy is real privilege, than why are you busy whipping clerks and gas station attendants who happen to have a lighter epidermis than you?
Who do you consider yourself to be, the ghost in the shell, or the shell. Your argument is that you are the shell.
The real enemy is selfishness, greed, corruption, and willful stupidity in the human mind. To ascribe that to whites is to ascribe it to Jews, and we all know how that turned out.
This video merely attacks and mocks people because of their race in the name of vengeance. When the man says he can remember when whites feared him on the street, well, whites can remember when they were blamed by blacks for atrocities they never committed. Both are racial profiling and judging people by their race.
If there is no bad race, and nobody is born guilty, how do you know white people need to be educated by you? Maybe it's time to stop judging peole by the shell, and start judging them by the ghost.
We are only getting more knowledge. 4 sure if more people understood that class in America is very different then let's say... Class in Egypt or sub-Saharan, make no mistake America needs steeper criminal laws to affect all racism. It's simple. Very simple, punishment curbs behaviour. Moral laws in America are to lax.
my friends and i discuss virtually everything related to current events. guilt would not stop me from having a conversation. the people i encounter in my everyday life create inclusive environments, but i'm lucky not to live in certain less-diverse red states. I would agree, this country caters to whites but that the majority of the white preference is just a result of the fact that whites are the overwhelming majority. probably in general people cater to their own race. i would presume in every country around the world, that country's dominant race is catered to. wouldn't it make sense for a country that is 70% white to cater to itself?
That’s not white enough
Mykki Blanco is always ahead of its own time.
I do not think people of african descent in that land called America will ever understand that it's not about colour. It's about IDENTITY and CULTURE. Your colour is only an issue when they feel their "superior" cultures and identities are threatened, which usually likely because black Americans have rejected eurocentric realities. The crazy part, they have rejected them but insist on being part of a world ruled by eurocentrism. A Quantum rule says that there's no such thing as an outside. It's a rule: "So within, so without" . Again, it's a rule. Your outside can only reflect your inside. Nothing less, nothing more. Now, time and space do not exist. Black Americans will stop being in conflict when they create their own time and space. Right now they insist on staying in someone's else. Eurocentric time and space. And it's hardly Europeans fault. They have a life to live too and are free to associate with of not. Their superiority complex will become redundant when you create your own time and space.
Mykki says "at the level where it creates institutional change,he'll no!" Why would they? They have no desire to let go of what works for them, how stupid would that be? If anything , if change truly comes,America will turn into Different countries. Most of them will never ever live the African-American way! Ever!
Because most wont see it otherwise, here was my response to someone saying this is the same as blackface:
"There is a key difference in these two scenarios. Black face was meant to ridicule and demean black people. It called them stupid, lazy, and portrayed them as inferior objects of comic relief. This video is political commentary. It is supposed to be uncomfortable. It's meant to show white people the reality that we have the luxury of not having to think about these issues. Racism is not born it's taught, and unteaching anything is near impossible because most people do not realize they were taught these systems at such a young age. They either unconsciously absorbed it or adopted it out of conformism. I think most white people who do these types of things are good people at heart who simply rationalize their way through the cognitive dissonance that comes from their discriminatory behavior. They ignore the signs of racism within their community and themselves by saying "well I'm a nice guy, I couldn't be racist!" This video is meant to be shocking because it takes something shocking to get people to think about things that are this deeply rooted within their subconscious. I went to see a play once in DC about how we still treat anti Asian racism so casually in this country and it involved white people getting into yellow face. Removed from the context you could say it was racist because a white person was in yellow face, but that was the whole point of the work. It was the commentary that was being made. Removed from the context of this video white face for the sake of it isn't good (though it doesn't have nearly the same heavy historical implications that black face does.) Look at the movie White Chicks. It is considered one of the worst movies of all time because it is exactly what minstrel shows of old were meant to do. Make hateful jokes about another race just for the sake of making them look stupid and disgusting. White Chicks was in poor taste and it would fall more closely into your eye for an eye metaphor but in reality even that is different. In the end it was pretty harmless if absolutely brain dead. If you knew the actual history of black face in the US, you would know how horrifying and twisted it was. It wasn't just for giggles, it was a way to crush the spirit of an entire race of people and brainwash a nation into thinking of them as less than human. It's effects can still be seen today. The same can not be said of a shitty comedy movie. You cannot remove each individual act from it's historical context when comparing them because that is a simplistic and lazy false equivalency."
"You cannot remove each individual act from it's historical context when comparing them because that is a simplistic and lazy false equivalency."
Exactly, this is the key problem - ignorance of historical context. And not only ignorance, but a cultural replacement of the past with something else, whether it be southern pride, race-blindness, blood-sweat-tears self-righteousness or any other form of intellectual and moral laziness. It's as simple as this: whiteface and blackface can never be the same in a society based on "white" culture and "white" worldviews. Conversations about race are usually taken highly, highly personally, even when we're not mentioning personal transgressions. Chris Rock once said something pretty astute: it's not about black progress, it's about white progress. Something to the effect of, the biggest thing that's changed over time is that the current generation of white people is the nicest one america has ever produced. Which is saying a lot, considering the vitriol you still see sprayed all over social media like so much KKK graffiti; considering how much historical revision you still see in pop culture, in mass media, and in school classrooms. Blackface is an assertion of dominance, a tool of oppression. Whiteface is a reaction to that oppression, whether it be tasteless or not. Using the judicial system's monopoly on violence to suppress minority expression is a tool of oppression. Rioting is a reaction to that oppression, whether it be scary and counterproductive or not. This stuff is just so obvious, so clearly present in our present world (not to mention highly documented), that any attempt to deny or explain this away is a clear sign of missing the point, drinking the kool-aid, or just overt racism.
Nice spin. This is no different than blackface because its mocking whites. How do you expect to fight racism with more racism? usually its the racists themselves who are the first to cry racism because they see everything as a racial thing.
@@ncar2160 No, N Car (North Carolina? Me too, if so). It's not, for the reasons stated above. Controversial? Definitely. Incendiary? Maybe. Helpful? I'm not sure. But it is not the same as blackface because it's not being done for the same reason, and because of history. His point is to provoke you into thinking about that. Plus, possibly, he likes pushing the envelope.
@@ncar2160 It's still racist yes, it's not good yes, it's not the same exactly reasons though. I wouldn't do it and I don't condone this video. Also, I'm black. To my fellow blacks, no, you don't get a clean slate to be racist because it's happened to you. You can stand up for yourself sure, but that doesn't mean lowering yourself to their level. These people here are all angry so they let it get to them and decided that this kind of video would be the best thing comedically and politically to point out caucasian misunderstandings. It wasn't funny simply because it wasn't funny. But it wasn't effective because fundamentally, I didn't see any white people trying to show that they agreed with minority view point on the racial struggles (but I didn't watch to the end). I have white friends who have also said "there is only 1 race, the human race" and I see why they say it. They then also add on that they don't show any bias for races so I fully understand what those who follow up mean. It means they're for equality. It's not hard to say that or be for that. That doesn't vet everyone else who has said "there's only 1 race, the human race" though. The reality is that statement is wrong. There are also people who still give bias towards races. Every race does it but the white people do it so much in north america and the western world that it caused policy makers and workplace advisors to take notice. This is the world we live in now. We shouldn't be conducting our practices based on race but we see it everywhere. Why do certain establishments have an all [insert race here] work force? Could be many reasons, some of them cultural/racial, but is it racist every time? Hard questions like this define our modern times in terms of race.
White face is ok tho
give me my powaaaa!
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Thiiiiiiiiiiiis