Trudeau’s blackface backlash brings back memories for Strange
POLITICALLY, MIKE STRANGE doesn’t share much in common with Justin Trudeau.
But what the Niagara Falls city councillor and independent federal candidate does share with the Liberal prime minister is that both have come under fire for dressing in blackface or brownface.
“I don’t think Trudeau is a racist ... I know I’m not a racist,” said Strange.
“Sometimes I don’t agree with Trudeau’s politics, but … I don’t think he should resign. I think it’s up to the people on Oct. 21st (election day) to decide and vote whether or not he’s fit for a leader.”
Trudeau’s campaign was rocked late Wednesday when photos were published revealing he appeared in brownface at a party 18 years ago.
Time magazine published a photo showing Trudeau — then a teacher — wearing brownface makeup and a turban at a 2001 Arabian Nights private school party.
At a hastily called news conference on board his campaign plane Wednesday night, Trudeau said he didn’t think it was racist at the time, but now acknowledges it was. “I regret it deeply,” said Trudeau. “It’s something I shouldn’t have done, many years ago, and I recognize that I shouldn’t have done it.”
He admitted it wasn’t the first time he had dressed in brownface.
“When I was in high school, I dressed up at a talent show and sang ‘Day-O,’” — also known as Banana Boat Song, by Harry Belafonte — Trudeau said, adding quickly, “and put makeup on.”
Hours later, a new video appeared to show yet another similar incident involving Trudeau.
Posted by Global News, it appears to show a brief clip of Trudeau in blackface, wearing a white T-shirt, sticking his tongue out.
Liberal party spokeswoman Zita Astravas confirmed to the Toronto Star it is Trudeau in the video, which she
said dates from the early 1990s.
For Strange, the revelations brought him back to his own involvement in a similar controversy when the former Olympic boxer wanted to be the Progressive Conservative candidate in the 2018 provincial election.
Strange was notified by the party in late 2017 he would not be permitted to run, due to some material on his Facebook page party officials deemed problematic.
A 2009 Facebook photo of Strange and a friend wearing blackface while masquerading as African-American tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams at a Halloween party weighed heavily in the party’s decision not to allow Strange to stand for the nomination.
At that party, a few people told Strange and his friend it was offensive, so the friend went to a store and picked up gorilla masks for them to instead dress up as Planet of the Apes characters. Strange said it was a mistake, adding he didn’t mean to offend anyone. He denied being a racist and said those who know him can attest to that.
“I think in Niagara, people know who I am, and I don’t have a racist bone in my body,” he said Thursday.
“I do a lot of stuff for childhood cancer and for all races, so for someone to paint me with that brush is not true at all, just like I don’t think Trudeau is a racist as well.”
Strange said he, like Trudeau, made an error in judgment.
“You obviously try to correct it, but it still was an error in judgment and I apologize for it,” he said.
“The (PC) party still didn’t let me run, and that’s probably one of the reasons why I’m running today as an independent and I’m kind of glad for that, because otherwise I might be under a (Premier Doug) Ford government in Ontario right now.”
Meanwhile, local Liberal candidates uniformly declined to take questions about the issue.
Incumbents Chris Bittle of St. Catharines and Vance Badawey of Niagara Centre, along with Niagara Falls new coming Andrea Kaiser all sent statements in response to requests for an interview.
Each of the statements used similar language, recognizing blackface is wrong and hurtful, and noted the prime minister took responsibility for his actions and apologized.
Bittle and Badawey declined further comment, saying Trudeau’s words speak for themselves. A spokesperson for Kaiser said she was unavailable Thursday.
Liberal candidate Ian Bingham from Niagara West could be not be reached Thursday.
— with files from Grant LaFleche and the Toronto Star