Justin Trudeau´s blackface can´t be wiped away | Letters
(The Guardian Canada)

The blackface issue is so powerful because it reveals white people´s almost total failure to appreciate the ongoing violence of racism, writes Rod Earle, while Pamela Jane Smith believes the revelations about the Canadian PM are politically motivatedIt´s possible that the implications of Justin Trudeau´s blackface episode (I can´t recall how often I blacked up, says Trudeau, 20 September) will be taken as simply personally unfortunate, the result of `a bit of fun` and careless playacting coming back to hurt his political prospects. It should make us ask serious questions. What kind of world is it where a white person getting made up to look like a black person can cause such trouble?Two recent Guardian articles pointing to our continuing refusal to talk about race, by Mithu Sanyal (Whisper it, but it´s finally OK to talk about race in Germany, Journal, 18 September) and Alex Clark (`What we can learn is, be aware of the beginnings. Be aware of racism, be aware of nationalism´, Review, 14 September), are good places to start looking for answers. Continue reading...