I’ll stick my neck out and fully expect it to be cut off.
I guess I’m on the “woke” side of most things but I’m troubled by this apparent example of racism. Hales was dressed up as a hero of his and it appears to have been done as a positive representation of someone he admires and respects. I appreciate that as a general rule “blackface” is not on, but this example reminds me of the young Perth primary school student who got called out for dressing up as his footy hero, NicNat. NicNat indicated that he found it amusing and had no problem with it but that didn’t stop the criticism. (I’d simply be more worried about the kid following a WCE player).
Anyway, I’m basing these comments on the article (and I haven’t seen the images, which hopefully show that Hales stayed well away from the appalling old Black and White Minstrel representations). If there are other more confronting details (as there often are) I’ll happily take everything back. I’m not condoning blackface but sometimes we ignore context and overreact. While I wouldn’t risk it today, I might have done something similar to Hales in 1985. As for 2009, perhaps Alex shouldn’t have risked it? Either way, I don’t think he deserves this level of scrutiny.
(And Tragic, it’s still perfectly ok to dislike the English cricket team)
