In spite of his understanding on the dynamics of race in America, Rambler celebrated this past Halloween in an interesting fashion. A photo has went viral which depicts him dressed as what appears to be the late Bob Marley. The most distinctive feature about Rambler’s Halloween outfit wasn’t who he was dressed as, but rather how he presented himself when doing so.

From the looks of the picture (which is the featured photo for this story), Terry Rambler’s face has been painted in “blackface”, the longtime make-up style used by members of the dominant society to ridicule and disparage the naturally darker skin tones of Melanoid people. Another thing to consider after reviewing this photo is the fact that Terry Rambler isn’t much lighter than the revolutionary recording artist was when he was alive. After painting his face, Rambler was much darker than Bob Marley ever was. If the aforementioned Rambler is aware of this fact–and most of the world is–then why would he paint his face in such a way under any circumstances? After all, doesn’t Rambler consider it to be offensive that many Melanoid men have suited up to play for professional sports franchises in which they had no say in determining the names of those teams?

Although Rambler has since issued an apology, this is just the latest incident involving non-Black people who dress up in stereotypical ways to depict Blacks. This incident also forces us to re-visit the topic of Blacks who try to latch on to other agendas outside of their own just because the people they support are “brown people of color”. Are “red”, “brown”, and/or “yellow” people in the trenches with African/Melanoid people as many of us claim they are?

B. Clark

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