Virginia official apologizes for posting blackface photo

[left-of-center2012]

A white local Virginia politician has apologized after posting a photo of himself wearing blackface on social media. Faron Hamblin, a town councilman in Warsaw, Va., posted a photo of himself in costume as Randy Watson, a fictional character in the 1988 movie “Coming to America,” on Facebook last weekend, local NBC affiliate WWBT reported.

He has since removed the post due to backlash from the community, but said in a now-deleted apology letter also posted to Facebook that he doesn’t think he did anything wrong by darkening his skin for his Halloween costume.

“I made a post that hurt a lot of folks and that was not my intention,” he wrote. “Many saw it degrading, which I did not. But
since I'm white it's considered by some as offensive to dress as a black person.”
He doesn’t think he did anything wrong by darkening his skin for his Halloween costume.

Hamblin said in his apology that was upset by accusations that he is racist.

https://thehill.com/changing-america/579194-virginia-official-apologizes-for-posting-blackface-photo

[marble falls]

1. Right. Totally unaware. How about an apology without a half-assed excuse attached?

[Effete Snob]

2. Public apologies are pointless anyway

I have never seen anyone issue a public apology for anything, to which the response was acceptance, let alone forgiveness.

If you are aware of anyone in public life who has ever apologized for anything to the satisfaction of said public, I’d be fascinated to know what it was.

The other problem is that, but for this apology, I’d have never heard of this incident. So it only perpetuates the negative attention in the first place.

[marble falls]

3. I disagree. The committees set up in South Africa with truth commissions to bring about ...

... national reconciliation with the end of Apartheid were successful.

I've seen parent of victims forgive their children's murders. I've seen documentaries of teaching empathy to prisoners and how in meetings between victimizers and their victims' families, where forgiveness asked and forgiveness given is an amazing healing experience.

[Effete Snob]

11. This sort of public apology ritual

Has nothing to do with specific apologies from a wrongdoer and a victim.

I have never seen a public figure apologize for (insert offensive thing here) without it being "not good enough" to a substantial part of the public audience to which it was issued. I doubt we'll be having a formal inquest and factfinding commission into this guy putting on blackface for Halloween to imitate Randy Watson from Coming to America - a movie rife with African and African American stereotypes, and which was conceived by a white humorist, and a screenplay by two white writers.

[marble falls]

13. Everything I've read says the opposite ...

[Search domain justice.gov.za] https://www.justice.gov.za › trc
The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was set up by the Government of National Unity to help deal with what happened under apartheid. The conflict during this period resulted in violence and human rights abuses from all sides. No section of society escaped these abuses. The TRC was based on the Promotion of National Unity ...
Trc/Committees‧Legal Background‧Reparation & Rehabilitation‧Links‧Special Hearings‧Hearings and Submissions

Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) | South African ...
[Search domain sahistory.org.za] https://www.sahistory.org.za › article › truth-and-reconciliation-commission-trc-0
Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a court-like body assembled in South Africa after the end of Apartheid. Anybody who felt they had been a victim of violence could come forward and be heard at the TRC. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from prosecution.
Videos

[Search domain repository.up.ac.za] https://repository.up.ac.za › bitstream › handle › 2263 › 8239 › Meiring_Truth(2005).pdf;sequence=1
Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa: the role of the faith communities Ten years after the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission commenced with its work (1995), the author - using the statements made by representatives of the different faith communities in South

The Truth about Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa
[Search domain jstor.org] https://www.jstor.org › stable › 30039021
South Africa's truth and reconciliation process is perhaps the best-known example of an institutionalized attempt to build a more democratic future by confronting human rights atrocities from the past. Yet the South African case is often quite misunderstood, with many

Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa) - Wikipedia
[Search domain en.wikipedia.org] https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(South_Africa)
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a court-like restorative justice body assembled in South Africa after the end of apartheid. Witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations were invited to give statements about their experiences, and some were selected for public hearings.

[Effete Snob]

14. This has zip to do with the SA Truth Commission

Is someone convening one over this idiot wearing blackface, in order to investigate his years of oppression?

Come on.

No public figure in the US - whether we are talking about Michael Vick and his dogfighting; Mario Cuomo and his gropings; or any longstanding members of the “to anyone who may have been offended” chorus has ever had a public apology “accepted”. Have you blocked every other person in this thread?

This regular public ritual - in which a public figure does or says something offensive, apologizes, and then is raked over the coals for an insufficient apology - has nothing to do with the SA reckoning over crimes against humanity.

The SA Truth and Reconciliation Commission never got a single US sportscaster re-hired after making some obnoxious racial comment. The SA Truth and Reconciliation Commission did not stand in the way of giving Al Franken the heave-ho. None of these apologies ever accomplishes anything but more scorn on their maker.

[left-of-center2012]

6. "I'd have never heard of this incident"

I know !
There is so much going on in the world about which we are unaware.

[Effete Snob]

9. I had also not really thought about that role being played by Eddie Murphy

Last edited Sat Oct 30, 2021, 01:47 AM - Edit history (1)

His performances in that movie were all stellar…

And in trying to recall who was Randy Watson, I found a huge amount of Randy Watson merch:

https://www.fun.com/coming-to-america-randy-watson-wig.html



T-shirts, posters, all sorts of stuff.

[stillcool]

4. I see his true colors shining through

So proud of himself, and yet shocked he got found out trying to mock a man. He should have dressed up like George Floyd, and went to a PBA cocktail party.

[greenjar_01]

5. It's 2021 and this is a grown adult either pretending or genuinely not understanding that blackface

is wrong.

Fuckin' 'ell.

[Xavier Breath]

7. Borrowing a page from the John Gruden apology playbook.

"I don't have a racist bone in my body. Now, please ignore glaring Exhibit A."

[Haggard Celine]

8. It really doesn't matter whether or not he thinks he

did anything wrong. The point is that a lot of people are offended by white people dressing up as black people. He had to have known that, but he did it anyway. Since he made a conscious decision to go ahead and offend people, it's hard for me to believe that his apology is sincere. Not that it was much of an apology to begin with.

[Demovictory9]

10. omg

[peggysue2]

12. That's what's called a non-apology apology

I don't think I did anything wrong (circa 1950). But since you're all such sensitive, woke snowflakes:

I apologize. Sort of.

How 'bout this Faron: What did you expect the reaction to be? Were you asleep in a cave somewhere when the Northam photo surfaced? Or just bummed out by all the criticism and decided to give it a spin of your own.

The beat goes on!