• Shardikprime@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    How is that being dressed as a Puerto Rican?

    You’d go to Venezuela or Colombia and see people dressed the same as well

    Hell even Ecuador or Peru I think

    Baseball is very popular in Latin and central America, is not unheard of that someone is fan of a baseball team from another country

    I don’t see how being dressed with something resembling merchandise of a baseball team means you are Puerto Rican or dressed like one

    And to go further, I believe it is EXTREMELY racist to think so.

    • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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      23 hours ago

      Well, it’s what he said he was doing, so that’s why I went with that. Also note the specific terminology associated with Puerto Ricans.

      https://www.npr.org/2020/06/09/872697289/chief-editor-at-bon-app-tit-resigns-after-racially-offensive-photo-surfaces

      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/08/dining/bon-appetit-adam-rapoport.html

      In isolation it would be racist to assume a man wearing a baseball jersey was Puerto Rican or dressed as a one as a caricature. It’s not when it’s labeled as such by the people in the photo, and when asked about it they admit that’s what they were doing, and then apologize and then ultimately resign.

      • Shardikprime@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        To be honest, all that just seems like an incident blown out of proportion

        As I see it, someone else is referring to this dude as papi, which is basically daddy but in Spanish, and then added a hashtag on Instagram that says “boricua”, which might as well be related to food as the guy is apparently a chef?

        It never says he is cosplaying as a Puerto Rican. At least in the picture they post, nor it looks like it’s the intention.

        Then there is a lot of people saying something about brown face or black face? What, can’t people be tanned? Or somehow do they think everyone from LATAM is brown or black?

        • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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          4 hours ago

          Alright. It’s entirely incidental to the point I was making so I don’t feel particularly invested in defending his actions being the way he said they were.
          Replace it with one of the news stories about a politician wearing blackface if it makes you feel better, or fill in what you think would work better as a racist caricature outfit depicting someone from Puerto Rico.
          I stand by my original statement that if you think to yourself “I’m going to go to this Halloween party as a Puerto Rican (or any race)” you honestly shouldn’t do that, regardless of what comes into your mind when you picture that race, since races aren’t costumes.

          I’m not sure why you would think Boricua is related to food. It means a person from Puerto Rico. It’s like arguing that “#new-yorkers” is about food. If it was about food, or his costume wasn’t what it was, why would the picture just randomly be labeled with either this unknown food term despite no food being in the picture, or why would you go to a costume party not wearing a costume or as a generic baseball fan and post a picture of yourself labeled “Puerto Rican”? And then resign, referencing the Halloween costume amongst the list of racial insensitivities behind that choice?

          The person in the article who used the term brownface is a person who actually worked with him and would presumably be able to tell if he had put on makeup to change his skin tone.