Otherwise, I guess all you need to know is, these pics are from Halloween '06. And the captions, when present, aren't mine, they come from the picture file names. I believe they're also uploaded on facebook.
I guess I could add that I never visited Trinity before I attended, but I suspect if I visited and this guy popped out the bushes holding a fake (hopefully?) army rifle I may have just stuck with my reach school, University of Phoenix.
Also, Trinity produces black folk like TAN, and white people like this guy. Slowly but surely getting a monopoly on churning out confused children. Go Bants! Get those admission apps ready!!
best friends .... despite the race difference
blackface
by far the best picture of the night
so many things to mind...none of them in word form.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there's a way a I could un-go to Trinity...
ReplyDeleteit's refreshing to see douche bag redefined. man, this really brings me back...
ReplyDeleteWHISKEY. TANGO. FOXTROT.
ReplyDeleteThat's some unholy creepiness right there.
UGH
ReplyDeleteIs he supposed to be mud-covered Arnold from Predator?
ReplyDeleteAll I can think about is how messy my hands would get if I started smacking his stupid face.
ReplyDeleteIf I beat the shit out of that guy is it a hate crime?
ReplyDeleteNot all that long ago Hollins College (a women's college in Virginia) had a class show including some minstrel numbers.
ReplyDeletecharming.
this is completely ridiculous..although I once stayed one weekend in CT as a guest teacher at an art school and the people I stayed with thought that I (latina) and my collegue (african/caucasian) biracial, shouldn't have access to thier restrooms. Fun times - why don't areas in CT just honor the confederate flag? No?
ReplyDeleteit's reasons like this that i attended a hbcu; just to avoid ignorance like what i see in those pictures.
ReplyDeleteNow I have a website I can send people when they ask what Trinity was like, and I respond: "I had fun, but I'd never send my kids there."
ReplyDeleteWho is this guy? I want to know. And I want to know who his friends are, and why they let him do this.
As an '02 grad, it's nice to see Camp Trin Trin still up to tricks. What a memorable 5 years.
ReplyDeleteHow come no blackfaces when I was there? They could've joined us at the one table we all sat at Mather.
I know a few black people who acted like they were wearing minstrel garb while I was at Trincoll..
ReplyDeleteEven those who sat in Little Africa, a.k.a, the one table in mather.
Honestly, the fact that the dude is running around parties totally naked is more disturbing to me than the whole racial aspect.
ReplyDeleteI was only ten when that awful movie Soul Man was on HBO. I knew then that this shts wrong.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why people can take pleasure in such stupidity.
Just...I don't have words. I really really want to just kick every single person in those pictures in the nuts. The chicks I want to punch in their ugly faces.
ReplyDeleteMy mom is actually a professor at trinity and told me about this incedent today. Apartently this kid now has to make a public apology to the entire student body, faculty, etc of trinity. Is this teaching diversity? is this teaching that racism is wring? ignorance is bliss?
ReplyDeleteThis kid is just another "arrogant Trinity kid." I am doubfounded.
Okay, all talks of racism, insensitivity and diversity aside...am I really the only person more disturbed by the whole walking around naked at a party thing? That is just naaaasty.
ReplyDeleteAs a Native American I feel your pain. People dress up as my people all the time. They have sports teams called the braves, the redskins, etc.
ReplyDeleteThis is how whites are, just accept it.
Just blog browsing and came across yours and I am seriously disturbed by those pics. The people in these pics are obviously so used to racism and this kind of behavior that they are ignorant enough to take pictures and smile as if they were playing a game of cards or something.Ridiculous! **smh**
ReplyDeleteOh and I hope you don't mind I added you to my blogroll.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that "anonymous" feels that people should "just accept" that "this is how whites are." I am white, a current student at Trinity, and value the richness of diverse perspectives around me. I am saddened by the individuals who respond to the insensitive costume with their own racial stereotypes. Trinity has a problem with bigotry, but the way to end it is not by accepting it, but by channeling well-deserved anger into positive manifestations of very necessary change. We can start with the basics: don't let the ignorance of a few convince you to also pigeonhole others. Give us a chance to be the individuals that we are who can make acceptance a stronger force than ignorance.
ReplyDeleteI'm a current Trinity student, a senior, and I'm as outraged as you all are. I hadn't seen the pictures until this point. But the thing is - this has got the campus talking, and I've never felt more like things are going to change in my three and a half years before.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, the person responsible for this, offered an apology in front of everybody who came to Cinestudio for a forum on the state of relations on campus. He alternated apologizing with trying to offer justifications and rationalizations for what he did. Honestly, he lived on my hall last year (I was a first year mentor), and he is by far the most insensitive, ignorant, and disengaged person I've met here. It's a shame that he, now, represents Trinity as a whole.
... I would love to be surprised...but I'm not. This happens at colleges across the country every single Halloween and every time someone decides to have a "pimps and hoes" party.
ReplyDeleteFoolishness.
Smooches,
Kris (not to be confused with the Kris that posted earlier)
This isn't shocking to me at all! At institution of lower standards and no education...parties such as "Pimps and Hoes", "Gansta & Ghetto", "Big Booty", etc, etc are all over the place. Generally, unless it becomes a PR nightmare will administrations REACT with some lame public statement. College and universities (and I use those terms lightly) aren't interested in the ACTUAL campus climate to prevent and educate these students, advisors (to these groups) faculty to create trully enlighten citizens. I love that people are brave to spotlight the igorance and force at least an official response and reactionary pressure on the student...at least keep of the appearances.
ReplyDeleteI wish...that appearances were the true climate of the campus. Wishful thinking. That would mean that priviledge of all sorts would have to be examined and demantled.
That is a revolutionary!
I used to get all up in arms about these blackface parties. When I was in college, I was very active in blasting the frats who put on these parties, but I'm honestly immune to this kind of shit now. Part of it is because there have been so many of them around the country; part of it is that the uproar about blackface is blown out of proportion--there are much bigger fish to fry.
ReplyDeleteWow. Just...wow.
ReplyDeleteThe president of the College Republicans at my university did something similar at the student group's Halloween party in '03. Except he wasn't just in blackface, but impersonating/lampooning the then-head of the student Black Caucus who had recently been accused of petty theft of a bicycle. Other members of the College Republicans came dressed as KKK members and several other costumes designed to offend (including sodomized fratboy). The truth came out when some people who got the "Ha ha! Check this out!" email reported it to school authorities. No administrative action was taken, but students spent a great deal of time talking about it in the paper, and he was forced to relinquish his position in the Undergrad Student Government by fellow student reps. The College Repubs kept him as their leader for the remainder of that year.
ReplyDeleteSo close to incidents in 2001 when several Black students received death threats, a threat letter was sent to a prominent Black Caucus member telling her where the first body would be (and was) found, and in which several Black men were found dead in the woods and a female Korean student was abducted (still no leads 5 years later), it was a chilling reminder that my friends and colleagues who are people of color are not safe 'round these parts. I'm not really safe outside town either, but I can hide being gay, whereas they can't hide the color of their skins. It is saddening to see that the same behavior is still happening in areas of the country generally regarded as more civilized.
I'm glad scottahb said he felt like things were changing on campus, because when I was at Trinity (class of '04) it definitely felt like a stagnant environment.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope.
i agree with T's first statement. but its ill cause every 5 years or so, a white cat or a frat does something ig'nant like this...
ReplyDeleteone would think that they would learn especially in the age of camera phones and youtube
wrong
ReplyDeletewrong
and more wrong.
These images are so very fucking disturbing. I wish someone would've taken photos of these punks getting teabagged later that night.
I'm also a trinity alum ('04) and I think that this is just sick. I hope that there are people still there who gave that douchebag shit when they saw him. I know I would have been very tempted to throw a drink on his face if I had been there.
ReplyDeleteTrinity is not exactly a bastion of tolerance and diversity, but there are a lot of good people there. I'd like to think that it's slowly getting better.
I wish that guy had faced stronger repercussions than having to apologize in front of a self selected group of people.
UMMMMMM HELLLO... did anyone see the movie white chicks u fucking hipocrites!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSo I have a question - was it actually "blackface"? It seems more like a stupid idea for Iraq cammo. There were stupid people at trin 6 years ago when I was there, but if this was truly racially motivated I'm genuinely surprised.
ReplyDeleteRight, anonymous. Because an "Iraq cammo" wouldn't be racially motivated either. In summation, people are stupid. And they're going to continue to be stupid even when their stupidity becomes unpopular.
ReplyDeleteActually I meant along the lines of the color of sandstone which is prevalent in Iraq. www.cpt.org/iraq/images/clip_image002temp_000.jpg
ReplyDeleteI honestly cannot say what this young man's motivations were - I did not get a chance to hear what he had to say for his actions. The first thing that comes to my mind is homo-erotic exhibitionism. Just because he is a jock painted brown doesn't always = racist. Sometimes people don't think things through all the way.
For example - if a guy dresses up in drag for Halloween and exaggerates certain body parts and talks like a woman which may sound like an imitation of a gay man- is he homophobic or sexist? If he dresses like J-Lo and has an exaggerated butt and talking like she does when she is in her more "Jenny from the block" mode - is he expressing a racist sentiment or is it parody? If someone does not recognize that he is supposed to be J-Lo I bet you'd think the former.
Hell - (and I seriously doubt this) maybe this was supposed to be a biting social commentary - he is an amorphous shade of brown and wearing an army hat - minorities are overrepresented in the military. He is naked - in other words we aren't protecting our armed servicemen because the establishment thinks that thinks they are expendable. All in all it could be a pretty powerful message if it wasn't a whiteboy jock doing it.
At any rate, I'm just wary of attributing thoughts or an outlook on life to someone based off of a few pictures.
If I recall it correctly, there is an old Buddhist proverb - "he who points the finger at another usually has three fingers pointing back at him."
Then again, maybe you know the guy and "if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it probably is a duck" may apply.
I am Black, very Black, I like to think of myself of a Garveyite. I have no issue with those photos. I think it is more natural than we think for races to find each other amusing. Whites just have the balls and confidence to have full on parties.
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me say that I went to Trinity, I was at that party, and I am in these photographs. I witnessed the aftermath of this debacle first hand. I left Trinity a year ago and I my feelings for this are as strong as there were when it happened.
ReplyDeleteNow that I've established my credibility, let me ask - what the hell is wrong with all of you!?
This kid is nothing shy of a martyr for people who make bad decisions!
Looking back on it, none of us were sure what the hell he was trying to be; an camoflaged army commando, a muddy Arnold from Predator, a naked black army commando possibly covered in mud? Why should we even care? Isn't it his indecent exposure a testament to his stupidity? We should take comfort in knowing that he has enough sense to reach out to apologize for the offensive nature of his costume.
I mean, come on people, think about what prince Harry did - he dressed up like a fucking nazi! I didn't see him going to "sensitivity training". This kid really stepped up and bit the big one because he made a dumbass mistake. The campus crucified him as the poster boy for racism. The truth of the matter is that the kid is more suited to be a poster boy for stupidity - i.e not thinking how others will interpret his actions.
And lastly, did any of you stop to consider that there is a white guy dressed up as Kim Jung Il - the oppressive dictator of N. Korea? What's more offensive people?
Old dude was the life of the party. Nothing wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteHere we are April 2011 and this sort of nonsense goes on and on at Kamp Trin!
ReplyDelete