She explained that she wanted to represent the famous civil rights activist Rosa Park. Elementary school worker in Oregon, United States, who intends to protest against compulsory coronavirus vaccination showed up to work with her face dyed black, local media reported on Monday, September 20.
Lauren Pefferle, an education assistant at Mabel Rush School in Newberg, near Portland, says she used iodine tincture to darken her face and look like Rosa Parks, according to the Newberg Graphic newspaper. The activist had become famous in the 1950s for her refusal to give way to a white passenger on a bus, at a time when the fight against racial segregation divided the country.
The use of “blackface”, a caricatural representation of black people by make-up white actors that was common in the past, is now considered extremely offensive in the United States.
The woman placed on administrative leave
Oregon is one of a growing number of US states requiring educational staff to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, as the number of cases continues to rise, notably under the influence of the highly contagious Delta variant. .
Although scientists insist that the vaccine is effective against severe forms of the coronavirus, a minority of Americans who are often very upset believe that the vaccine requirement and other health restrictions are an intolerable attack on their individual freedoms.
Lauren Pefferle’s initiative has not won the support of her employers. “Friday, one of our employees went to her work with a + blackface +”, laments the Newberg school district in a statement Monday, without citing her by name. “The employee left the site and (human resources) placed her on administrative leave,” continues the district.
“It’s important to remember that blackface has been used to stereotypically portray and hurt black communities. We recognize the violence and trauma that this represents (…). Blackface + has no place in our schools“, the statement continued.
–
– .
