Mythos & Marginalia

2015 – 2025: a decade of days


Should Have Known Better

True generosity includes
extending the same courtesies
to others as you would yourself.

True hypocrisy condemns
others for the same misgivings
you, yourself, have participated in.

I am offended by the recent photos from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s past where he appears dressed in blackface on several occasions.
  The 2001 photo, which brought the issue into the public eye, appeared in Time magazine this week, and within 24 hours we became aware of, at least, two other similar situations.
  Not only is this the type of behavior Justin Trudeau, himself, would have condemned publicly should the photos have been of another candidate from another political party, but the politician pleaded ignorance as he tried to apologize for the insult and arrogance.
  “I should have known better, but I didn’t,” Trudeau said in his first apology over the admittedly racist incident.
  Thing is, Trudeau was a teacher at the time, and the snapshot was taken at an end-of-year school gala where he dressed in a turban as an Aladdin-like costume. Trudeau taught many subjects in his career, including drama.
  I can’t think of another area more sensitive to the use of blackface than the drama community, long before 2001. Any drama teacher worth their salt would have recognized the history of blackface and just how wrong it was.
  Any Prime Minister worth his salt should have realized just how hypocritical his apology is.

09/20/2019                             j.g. lewis


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