Google News 09/19: Trudeau faces backlash for ‘brownface’ photo

Bringing the total up to three

A picture’s worth a thousand words — but if it’s perceived as racist, it might also be worth your political career. Just weeks leading up to his bid for re-election, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has sparked controversy for a 2001 picture showing him dressed up in brownface for an Arabian Nights-themed party.

This wasn’t the first time that a distasteful act — blackface specifically — resulted in controversy for a political figure. Earlier this year, Virginia governor Ralph Northam faced calls for his resignation after his medical school yearbook depicted him dressed up as a black man, posing alongside a student in a KKK costume.

The act of blackface or brownface — wearing makeup to make oneself resemble a member of a non-white ethnicity — has recently been subject to intense moral scrutiny. From what I understand, it’s perceived as offensive and racist because of its connection to minstrelsy, a comedic performance that uses blackface and stereotypes of African Americans.

Show the average person a minstrel show today, and they’d probably be uncomfortable, sensing that what they’re watching is heavily outdated. This reflects the fact that, thankfully, social progress has been making our culture more…