By Jessica Reed
Blacking up has become acceptable in the same way that pole dancing is now sold to women as an empowering thing to do.
Hannah Pool's rebuttal to the Independent's cover yesterday, which featured model Kate Moss 'blacked up' with what seemed to be boot polish on her face and her nude body. The newspaper's special edition, edited and guest-designed by Georgio Armani, was supposed to sensibilise its readers to Africa's current challenges and issues. As soon as I saw it, the cover reminded me of Spike Lee's Bamboozled, a pitiless satire of the American entertainment industry in which Lee imagines the revival of the minstrel show on modern American TV.
Elsewhere: The Minstrel show on Wikipedia.
