The Duke athletic department has removed a photo from its website showing a women's lacrosse player dressed in blackface at a team Halloween party, the Associated Press reports.
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The junior class members of the team, at a party and costume contest held at head coach Kerstin Kimel's house, decided to dress as characters from The Little Rascals. That meant someone had to be Buckwheat … which meant, you guessed it: Someone had to be in blackface.
Sigh. We tried to tell people in advance of the holiday! Surely, the getup wasn't intended to be offensive, but at some point people are just going to need to give up this tradition with a troubled history, once and for all.
The team and coaches apologized for the photo, and Kimel said that some of the costume choices were "insensitive and inappropriate" and that the team members should have realized how the pictures would be viewed. You think? Was there no one around who was aware enough to suggest that this might not be the brightest idea and could potentially be offensive and controversial? After all, these kids are almost done with their college education.
Oh well. Try again next year.
Read more at the Huffington Post.
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