PROTEST MUST BE ADDRESSED
Quebec immersed in another debate about blackface
So here we are again. Just over a year since the last occurrence, Quebec is in the thick of yet another blackface debate.
Interestingly, this time the controversy isn’t about an actual instance of blackface, but an imagined — or wished for — one. In the winter edition of his wife Véronique Cloutier’s Véro magazine, comedian and actor Louis Morissette penned a column lamenting the hardship of having to bend to the orders of Radio- Canada producers and hire an actual black person, actor Normand Brathwaite, to play disgraced journalist François Bugingo in a skit for the annual Bye Bye year- end comedy revue; why couldn’t he have just resorted to using a white actor in blackface, as he would have liked?
In the same column, Morissette complained about the tyranny of a handful of “four or five” online trolls, calling them “les moustiques,” or mosquitoes, whose “chialage” ( whining) about blackface and other touchy topics are restricting comedians’ artistic freedoms.
His platform was broadened over the past two weeks as certain French- language media outlets gave him further opportunity to expound upon his views.
The outcry was swift. I learned about the issue on Twitter, via Ottawa- based online activist Rachel Décoste, who was steadily retweeting the outraged retorts of numerous black Québécois.
Among them were the initiators and first signees of a petition calling for: an end, once and for all, to blackface in Quebec; artistic and cultural institutions to show a greater sensitivity toward the under- representation of minorities, and to make a commitment for change; an apology from Morissette; and for all levels of government to take action by creating a clear plan to fight racism, particularly regarding questions of representation and diversity.
This is not just a black issue. The petition also highlighted an instance of yellowface – using a white actor ( a squinting, screeching Hélène Bourgeois- Leclerc) to play an Asian character – in a Bye Bye skit mocking Lu Chan Khuong, the former head of the Quebec bar who came under fire last year due to shoplifting allegations.
Posted online on Monday, the petition’s initial goal was to garner 100 signatures; as of Friday afternoon it boasted more than 1,700.
That’s one big swarm of mosquitoes, Mr. Morissette.
A year ago, in the swirl of the Théâtre du rideau vert blackface controversy, many commenta-
tors — primarily in the Frenchlanguage press — dismissed the whole fuss as a fabrication by anglophones, especially anglophone media, imposing American history and views of the practice upon Quebec culture, which they insisted had no such history.
While it was questionable then, such an argument is irrelevant now. The petition marks a groundswell of grassroots protest. As it did for the # OscarsSoWhite movement, the Internet is being used to mobilize
dissent and create awareness, outside of traditional media channels.
Scanning the list of signatories, one would be hard- pressed to speak of an anglo conspiracy. Petition creator Émilie Nicolas is the president of Quebec inclusif, a non- governmental organization that pushes for “une société québécoise ouverte, inclusive et respectueuse des droits des minorités.”
If there is a conspiracy, it is to dismiss the concerns of cultural communities that are too often left out of the mass media- controlled conversation.
“Each time there is a debate on the representation of diversity in recent years,” the petition states, “the discussion has been started on social media by visible minorities who have no other platform.”
The representation of visible minorities is a problem not only on Bye Bye. From TV dramas to movies, theatre and newspapers, people of colour struggle to be seen and heard in popular culture.
And Morissette would apparently like to keep it that way, as evidenced by the above- noted column in which he complained not only about having to hire a black actor to play a black person, but about having to deal with the annoyance of people ( of colour, primarily) who have a problem with that.
Following a few outings to defend his point of view ( which can be paraphrased as a halfhearted ‘ maybe I chose the wrong example’ combined with ‘ but why shouldn’t we be able to do blackface?’) — Morissette has taken his toys and gone home. On Thursday, the Montreal Gazette was told he has “closed the book” on the affair and was not available for an interview.
Our public broadcaster was equally mum. “Radio- Canada has no comment on the issue,” was the official line from communications director Marc Pichette.
That’s not good enough. As an entity paid for by and answerable to the public, Radio- Canada has a responsibility to its audience. It even says so itself.
“As the national public broadcaster, CBC/ Radio- Canada takes very seriously its obligation to be transparent and accountable to Canadians,” the organization states on its website, under the heading “Transparency and Accountability.”
Here is one of its star personalities undermining the station’s request that he not use blackface in the show; mocking those who disagree; and describing being forced to add a black actor to his all- white cast for a single sketch as an infringement on his creative freedom as opposed to a basic gesture of cultural sensitivity. And Radio- Canada has nothing to say? Talk about white privilege.
Each time there is a debate ... in recent years, the discussion has been started on social media by visible minorities who have no other platform.