Dave Ackerman: BYU Blackface Video for Black History Month

Dave Ackerman Blackface Video: BYU

Why did comedian Dave Ackerman think it would be a good idea to interview the lily-white student body of Brigham Young University in blackface?

Why didn't Ackerman's finished video, intended to be a commentary on BYU students' ignorance of Black History Month and African-Americans in general, not include any footage of the interview subjects reacting to his blackface?

While the line "you know a black guy when you see one?" is repeated often, implying that the interview subjects don't know that Dan Ackerman is white, there's no real reason to believe that they don't immediately see him as a white guy with brown paint on his face.

The result of all this is a bizarre video that will piss people off on several levels. Ackerman tries to save it at the end, with a title card explaining that only three people commented on his blackface getup, but why not include those reactions in the video?

We're also unsure how the slogan "fight ignorance with ignorance" is supposed to make sense.

Dan Ackerman seems to mean well, but, wow. It's no surprise that BYU is a pretty white and conservative campus, so there isn't too much to be gleaned from the interview subjects themselves. Ackerman's approach turns the project into a mess.

There have been enough blackface outrages in the media recently that you can't claim ignorance anymore. Any blowback you get for blackface stunts is wholly deserved.

Note to BYU students: Spike Lee did not intend Bamboozled as a how-to.

By the way, kids, "the lady on the bus" has a name: Rosa Parks.

Videos

What BYU students know about black people

see larger video

sourced by NowPublic Staff