Tag: blackface

Virginia AG candidate Jay Jones has complicated history on blackface scandal that rocked Democrats

emocratic Virginia attorney general hopeful Jay Jones gave an impassioned speech on race in 2019 which criticized then-Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam over wearing blackface — and then Jones embraced and campaigned with the disgraced Democratic governor during his unsuccessful bid to be attorney general in 2021 and again during his current bid in 2025.

The yearbook photo depicting two people, one dressed up in Ku Klux Klan robes and the other in blackface, appeared on Northam’s 1984 yearbook page at Eastern Virginia Medical School and came to light in early February 2019. Northam quickly admitted he was in the photo and apologized, then backtracked saying he’d actually appeared in blackface a different time.

The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, of which Jones was a part, quickly called upon Northam to resign the governorship, and Jones soon gave a fiery speech on the floor of the Virginia House of Delegates where he criticized the use of blackface and argued that the saga was proof that there was a “White Virginia” and a “Black Virginia.”

Jones walks back previous condemnation

In early 2021, Jones would express “remorse” for having called on Northam to step down, and Northam would endorse Jones’s bid to become the Democratic nominee for attorney general a month later. Jones would lead efforts to recruit Jones to run again in 2025 and Jones would again tout Northam’s endorsement this year.

During his first bid to become Virginia attorney general, Jones promoted legislative efforts to divest from the police, pull cops from schools, end qualified immunity for law enforcement, and abolish cash bail. As he centered his unsuccessful 2021 Democratic primary run on police reform and race, he repeatedly invoked Black Lives Matter icons George Floyd and Jacob Blake, claiming that those men could have been him.

Jones pushed for police reforms which echoed the “Defund the Police” mantra of BLM, and repeatedly claimed that he personally felt the knee on his neck and the bullets in his back when watching videos of Floyd and Blake. Jones frequently spoke of the “systemic racism” and the “remnants” of Jim Crow in Virginia, and pushed to get a Virginia cop fired for donating to the legal defense fund for Kyle Rittenhouse.

Jones endorsed the June 2020 criminal justice reform plan of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, of which he was a member, with the legislative strategy document of the black caucus including calls to “divest” from law enforcement just days after Floyd’s death and amidst the BLM rallying cry to “Defund the Police.”

Jones tweeted that month that “I’m a proud member” of the black caucus and that “we stand for justice.”

He lost to then-Virginia attorney general Mark Herring in the June 2021 Democratic primary, and Herring — who had also admitted to using blackface in the past — went on to lose to the Republican nominee, then-Delegate Jason Miyares, in the November 2021 election. Jones, who successfully won the Democratic nod this time around, is now seeking to defeat Miyares, who is running for reelection as the state’s highest law enforcement officer.

Jones did not respond to a request for comment sent to him through his campaign website.

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Canadian Teacher Suspended Over ‘Racist’ Zombie Makeup, Despite Fact Trudeau Got Away With It 3 Times – Now Teacher Has His Job Back With a Bonus

A Canadian teacher who lost his job after purportedly showing up to class in blackface as part of a Halloween costume has been reinstated with back pay.

The story highlights the culture of the left: If you’re a regular person, they will destroy your life. If you’re a powerful far-left politician, you get a free pass.

The U.S. saw the same situation play out in 2020, when Joe Biden was accused of sexual assault by former Senate staffer Tara Reade in the middle of the #MeToo movement. He wasn’t canceled and was instead crowned as his party’s nominee.

The Daily Mail reported that Gorian Surlan, a teacher at Parkdale Collegiate Institute in Toronto, was fired in 2021 after wearing what he said was a zombie costume to school.

He painted his face black using his daughter’s makeup and covered it with a mask to follow COVID rules.

Students were reportedly shocked. A photo of the teacher was sent to their parents. Complaints flooded the school.

The Toronto District School Board launched an investigation.

Surlan admitted misconduct and had his teaching license suspended in 2023. But an arbitrator has now ruled he must be reinstated.

Arbitrator Norm Jesin found Surlan guilty of “culpable misconduct” but said his career record justified suspension, not dismissal.

Jesin noted Surlan had acknowledged his mistake, adding, “This is an appropriate case for reinstatement.”

Surlan will return to work with a bonus — full compensation for lost wages dating back to October 2023, according to the Daily Mail.

Compare that with former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who had a habit of engaging in blackface in his youth.

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Teens forced out of exclusive California Catholic school for doing ‘blackface’ are awarded $1 million after proving it was green acne medication

Two California teens who were forced to withdraw from an elite Catholic high school over accusations of blackface have been awarded $1 million and tuition reimbursement.

A Santa Clara County jury sided with the teens, identified by the initials A.H. and H.H., on two claims concerning breach of oral contract and lack of due process.

The boys sued Saint Francis High School in August 2020 after photos circulated of them sporting acne treatment masks.

The controversy started when the boys were accused of performing blackface and were ultimately pressured into withdrawing from the prestigious Mountain View school.

‘It was quite clear the jury believed these were innocent face masks,’ attorney Krista Baughman told the San Francisco Chronicle after Monday’s judgement.

‘They are young kids, their internet trail is going to haunt them for the next 60 years. Now they don’t have to worry about that.’

The teens lost on three other claims alleging breach of contract, defamation and a violation of free speech.

The plaintiffs initially sought $20 million when they filed suit in Santa Clara County Superior Court, three years after they and a friend – who attended another school and was not included in the lawsuit – snapped a selfie while donning acne treatment masks.

In the offending photo, the boys’ faces were covered in dark green medication. A photo taken a day earlier revealed that they had tried on white face masks as well. 

According to documents reviewed by DailyMail.com, another SFHS student obtained a copy of the photograph from a friend’s Spotify account and uploaded it to a group chat in June 2020.

The photo resurfaced on the same day recent SFHS graduates created a meme pertaining to the murder of George Floyd, which sparked its own outrage and controversy.

The student insinuated that the teens were using ‘blackface’ and deemed the photo ‘another example’ of racist SFHS students, before urging everyone in the group chat to spread it throughout the school community.

On June 4, 2020, Dean of Students Ray Hisatake called the boys’ parents to ask them if they were aware of the photograph.

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Mother of Boy Accused of ‘Black Face’ at Chiefs Game Speaks Out: ‘He Is Native American’

The mother of the boy attacked by ultra-woke media outlet Deadspin for wearing facepaint and an Indian feathered headdress at the Kansas City Chiefs game is speaking out against accusations that her boy is a racist who disrespected blacks and Native Americans, and she is noting that he actually has Native American heritage in his family.

Shannon Armenta, mother of five-year-old Chiefs fan Holden Armenta, is outraged over Deadspin’s accusations.

“This has nothing to do with the NFL,” Armenta wrote in a Monday Facebook post.

“Also, CBS showed him multiple times, and this is the photo people chose to blast to create division [she wrote referencing the profile view photo of her son]. He is Native American – just stop already,” she wrote.

Unlike many who have some vague feeling that “great great grandma was a Cherokee,” Armenta noted that her son could not be a racist against Indians because he has Native blood in his family.

Indeed, the boy’s grandfather, Raul Armenta, has an official position in the Chumash Tribe in Santa Ynez, California, where he sits on the board of the Chumash Tribe, the Post Millennial discovered.

The grandfather is listed as a “business committee member” and was first elected to his position in 2016. You cannot be elected to a tribal position unless you have provable Native heritage.

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Deadspin targets young Kansas City Chiefs fan, falsely accuses him of wearing ‘black face’

Woke sports outlet Deadspin achieved a new low today, publishing an article entitled “The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress” that targets what appears to be an underage fan. The young person’s crime was dressing up in gear paying tribute to the Kansas City Chiefs at a recent football game.

At the time of publication, the identity and exact age of the young person is not known.

“It takes a lot to disrespect two groups of people at once. But on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, a Kansas City Chiefs fan found a way to hate Black people and the Native Americans at the same time” Deadspin’s article reads.

Deadspin then takes aim at the NFL, blaming the league for not changing the Chiefs name the same way the Washington Redskins became the Commanders. “The answers to all of those questions lead back to the NFL. While it isn’t the league’s responsibility to stop racism and hate from being taught in the home, they are a league that has relentlessly participated in prejudice. If the NFL had outlawed the chop at Chiefs games and been more aggressive in changing the team’s name, then we wouldn’t be here.”

“This is what happens when you ban books, stand against Critical Race Theory, and try to erase centuries of hate. You give future generations the ammunition they need to evolve and recreate racism better than before” the article continued.

The hit piece’s author, Carron J. Phillips, whose social media boasts of being an award-winning writer and Pulitzer nominee, faced backlash for targeting the young fan, but doubled down on his criticism. Many social media users pointed out that the young person was not in “black face” at all, but actually had his face painted red and black.

Phillips tweeted “For the idiots in my mentions who are treating this as some harmless act because the other side of his face was painted red, I could make the argument that it makes it even worse. Y’all are the ones who hate Mexicans but wear sombreros on Cinco.”

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Football Eye Black Isn’t Blackface

When La Jolla High School played Morse High School under the Friday night lights on October 13, students from the surrounding San Diego area filled the stadium to cheer on their prospective teams. Making posters, dawning face and body paint, yelling chants, and sporting jerseys were all part of the electric football game atmosphere.

J.A., a middle-schooler from Muirlands Middle School, attended the game with another student and that student’s mother. To show support for his team, J.A. let his friend put eye black paint on his face. A security guard even complimented the design. The game was largely uneventful with La Jolla winning handedly (56–6). But almost a week later, J.A. was called into a disciplinary meeting with his parents at Muirlands. 

In that meeting, J.A. was told he would be suspended from school for two days and was no longer allowed to attend future athletic events because he wore “blackface” to the football game. The suspension notice only specified that he was being suspended because he “painted his face black at a football game,” and the alleged offense was marked as “Offensive comment, intent to harm.” J.A.’s father told the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a First Amendment nonprofit, that no one complained or said anything negative about his son’s eye black while at the game. The school’s principal also failed to specify how they found out about the incident.

As Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy at FIRE, notes in a November 8 letter to Muirlands Middle School, “J.A.’s non–disruptive, objectively inoffensive” face paint is absolutely constitutionally protected expression.

In the letter, FIRE reminds school officials that “public school students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate.” It argues that “the First Amendment protects J.A.’s non-disruptive expression of team spirit via a style commonly used by athletes and fans.”

Eye black applied under the eyes and even on the cheeks is not blackface, and to suggest as such is a gross mischaracterization. Blackface is dark makeup applied all over the face to mimic, exaggerate, and mock black people. J.A. was simply cheering on his local football team with friends—and there is no reason to punish him for that.

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