Dianna M. Náñez

The Republic | azcentral.com

ASU students fight for cultural awareness

A group of African American students want ASU to ban 'blackface' at football games

ASU officials say they have no immediate plans for a ban but are open to changes

Chinenye Okudoh, a 20-year-old African-American student at Arizona State University, looked at the photo of a schoolmate's face painted black and felt ill.

Okudoh does not know the student. She was not at the game where he cheered from the packed student section inside Sun Devil Stadium on Sept. 25.

But she remembers what she was thinking when she saw the image on Facebook.

"I was so appalled and disgusted," Okudoh said. "I just felt completely hurt."

It was a "blackout" game, where ASU encouraged students to wear the same black-colored clothes to show team spirit for the college football players when they wear their all-black uniforms.

"A lot of people, a lot of the comments, are, 'What's the big deal? It's just a black face,'" said Okudoh, a biogenetics major. "What they don't understand is that there is major history behind blackface."

Blackface was created in the 19th century by White minstrel actors who darkened their faces with burnt cork and painted their lips with white or red stain to circus-clown proportions. They played to offensive racist stereotypes not only with an exaggerated appearance but by acting ignorant, blundering and lazy.

Okudoh and other students in the ASU Black African Coalition want the university to ban blackface at ASU games and hope to include a history on the issue and other cultural-awareness issues in a university life class that freshmen would take when they enroll. She is vice president of the coalition but was speaking as a student, not for the coalition.

ASU officials said that they are aware of the students' concerns and that the university's athletics department is open to future changes. For now, they have no plans to ban students from painting their faces black at games.

"There isn't any policy change taking place yet," said Thomas Lenneberg, a spokesman with ASU athletics.

"We're always open. Whether it's the students or parents or former players, we're always trying to work with them."

Christian Portaro, one of the handful of students who painted their faces at last month's blackout game, said he would do so again to show team spirit. He posted the photo on Instagram.

The students painted their faces black but not their lips in blackface fashion.

"I painted my face black because it was our 'blackout' game," Portaro wrote in an e-mail to TheArizona Republic. "And for our maroon monsoon game, I plan to paint my face maroon."

Tim Schodt said he considers himself a hard-core Sun Devils fan. Schodt said he painted his face black to show school spirit. He said other ASU students drew criticism a few years ago when they painted their bodies black to a blackout game.

"I'm trying to help clear up that this is not blackface," he said. "This is taking face paint and putting it on your face. This is not a terrible misrepresentation of African-Americans. This is a simple football tradition."

Schodt said he reached out Friday to an offended student to explain his motives. Although Schodt hopes ASU does not ban face painting at games, he said students would benefit from a cultural-awareness course as freshmen.

Okudoh doesn't care if the handful of students with painted faces at the blackout were aware or were oblivious that blackface is rooted in a racist stereotype.

She wants ASU to take steps now to ban the practice at games.

"It would be an immediate statement that they're (ASU officials) showing that we don't agree with this and we don't support this," she said.

ASU's lack of immediate action feels weak to some African-American students.

Kyle Denman, president of the Black African Coalition and a 28-year-old education major, said racism on ASU's campus and in Arizona is a daily struggle. He said he spoke to The Republic as an individual, not on behalf of the coalition, which, he said, must have its comments to media approved by ASU.

Denman was born and raised in Arizona. He knows Arizona was one of the last states to adopt an MLK holiday, in 1992.

He sees the game-day blackface incident as a final straw after a January controversy when a few ASU fraternity members dressed in hip-hop clothes and drank from watermelon cups. The students posted pictures on Facebook with the hashtag #blackoutformlk and said the display was a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. ASU expelled the fraternity.

A culture clash might be expected at a university that's among the nation's largest, with some 82,000 students.

This year, ASU has its most diverse student body; 34 percent of students are from underrepresented minority groups, according to university demographics.

Denman said African-Americans are a growing but small body at ASU.

Denman said if ASU was serious about cultural awareness, university officials would not wait to ban blackface.

"They're turning a blind eye to ignorance and instead letting students call it being school-spirited," he said. "This isn't just about being Black. I would have a problem with students being ignorant of our Latino or Native American or any student's culture."

Okudoh said it is difficult for people to talk about racism. For some, there's discomfort. For some, there's ignorance or prejudice. For some, there's fear of saying the wrong thing.

This moment at ASU is painful, but it could be an opportunity for discourse on culture, diversity and racism, she said.

Okudoh's voice dropped as she decided to talk about an incident that she and a friend faced about two weeks ago.

They were walking in the ASU Memorial Union, a Tempe student hub for events, food and entertainment, when a group of fraternity members passed them, she said.

"One guy yelled 'Watermelon' at us," she said. "My immediate reaction was that I was shocked."

She still smarts at feeling paralyzed to stand up for herself at the time.

"I always thought if I was put in that situation I would speak up. I would say, 'Excuse me, what did you say?'" she said. "But we were having a good moment. And someone catches you off guard like that."

Okudoh said it is past time for ASU to be proactive. The Black African Coalition is working on a bill to present to the University Student Government asking ASU to boost its cultural awareness and diversity lessons in a freshman 101 class that students take when they enroll at ASU.

Tempe Councilman Corey Woods, the first African-American to serve on the Tempe council, said ASU has a commitment to diversity and supporting its multicultural student body. Woods attended ASU.

He sympathizes with the African-American students who are hurt. And with the White students who were likely ignorant of their country's painful history with blackface.

Thousands of ASU students are coming to campus and experiencing their first interaction with peers from diverse social, economic, racial and cultural backgrounds.

"Many times when you're 17, 18, 19, they may not know all the historical context," Woods said. "They think this is an ASU game and along with wearing my black T-shirt, I'll paint my face black."

But ignorance is not an excuse to condone racism, he said.

Woods believes ASU should consider adopting a broad policy to shield its diverse student body.

"It's not just about African-Americans," he said. "Whether you're wearing blackface paint or painting your face red, which might be a concern to the Native American population. Look at face painting of people of all races and how that might make them feel."