Nick Cannon whiteface is not racist

(Nick Cannon/Instagram)

Earlier this week, comedian and musician Nick Cannon used whiteface to promote his new album, White People Party Music, and while there were many who did not find Cannon's marketing strategy racist, there were still some who did. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to explain why whiteface is not racist or discriminatory, and why it is not comparable to blackface.

Socialized Self: George Herbert Mead's Self, Mind and Society

(George Herbert Mead)

George Herbert Mead was a social philosopher who discussed the connection between the self, the mind, and society. He believed that society has an effect on the self and mind, and the self and the mind have an effect on society. Mead is considered to be the father of symbolic interaction.

Socialized Self: Herbert Blumer's Three Basic Premises

(Herbert Blumer)

Herbert Blumer was a sociologist who discussed social research and symbolic interaction. As a supporter of George Herbert Mead's findings, Blumer was a big believer that individuals create their own social reality through collective and individual action. Through his works on symbolic interaction, Blumer was deemed by many as the leader of this sociological school of thought during his times.

Here is Blumer's Three Basic Premises for human interaction from his book, Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method:

Thoughts on Western Canada High School's team name change

(Western Canada High School's Redmen logo)

10 years ago, I was a senior at one of Calgary's prestigious high schools, Western Canada High. I witnessed the good and the bad, and there is one thing that I can tell you about the school: Western is the whitest school in Calgary.

So for the current students of this school (the ones who are standing up and fighting to preserve the Redman logo and name that is) to say that their brand isn't offensive doesn't mean anything because they themselves have never felt true racial oppression and discrimination, and the stigma of being other (or not white). And if there are students who are non-white involved in this battle (which there probably is), A) they don't care and/or know about the history and legacy of the harm that First Nations have been through, and/or B) they don't have knowledge of institutional racism in Canada.

Institutional racism, not hip-hop, is why many blacks are held back

Are many black Americans living in bad situations because they listen to hip-hop and watch basketball? Or is it because of institutional racism that is holding them back? Well, Bill O'Reilly seems to think it is because of the former.

Reflections on Du Bois' Double Consciousness

W.E.B. Du Bois' concept of double consciousness talks about the sense of two-ness that blacks from his day experienced. The concept goes:

"It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder."

But in contemporary times, more oppressed groups have been revealed in society, where some people are more than one type of minority. So with this knowledge, shouldn't Du Bois' double consciousness extend to the other feelings of oppression as well?