Yesterday it was reported that indigenous musicians Thelma Plum and Briggs were receiving a considerable amount of backlash after calling out two individuals from Ballarat for wearing blackface. Well, the backlash continues today and is seemingly becoming stronger and more racist.
The whole situation has now escalated to the point where the argument of whether or not blackface is racist has divided the hometown of the two men. Friends of the two individuals are now also dressing up in blackface and sharing their images, insisting that this is all a joke.
Briggs has continued to intercept social media attacks, appearing on triple J’s Hack yesterday to speak about the situation. He explained “It’s 2016 and in Australia you still have to explain to people why blackface is racist. This isn’t just for show. It’s not my job to educate everyone about racism. That’s the usual response I get, ‘Well you know why don’t you take the time to educate them?’ They’re grown men who can educate themselves.”
After a number of Aussie artists showed their support for Plum and Briggs yesterday, Chance Waters, who took to Facebook to share an example of the online hate Plum has been receiving.
Pedestrian TV has also received footage of the two men, who are head to toe in black paint and Indigenous style paint markings, crouching on the ground pretending to light a fire with leaves and twigs, being encouraged by surrounding people. In a survey conducted by The Courier in Ballarat, it was put to the public whether or not they perceived dressing in blackface to be racist, with a surprising 70% of voters saying it is not racist.
