Chicago Campus Associate Professor Cadmona A. Hall, Ph.D. was quoted in a Chicago Tribune column about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Columnist Heidi Stevens compared the recently resurfaced photos of Trudeau in brownface and blackface to the event to Disney’s release of a Samoan-themed Moana Halloween costume that included wearable brown, tattooed skin. Dr. Hall, originally quoted in the Disney column, explained what made the costume offensive.
“So often what we see is a case of, ‘I don’t appreciate or respect this when it’s connected to your culture, but when I want to play in it, when it’s a costume, then all of the sudden it’s great,’” Dr. Hall said. “It’s more wonderful for a white person to dip their toe in it than for me, as a person of color, to live in it.”
Read more in the Chicago Tribune article, “Column: Justin Trudeau’s apology for wearing blackface is worth a moment of your time, whether you forgive him or not.”