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Nic Naitanui spoke out after a mother sent her child to a parade in blackface

WEST Coast Eagles star Nic Naitanui has spoken out after yet another example of blackface - this time from a young boy - sparked widespread outrage.

Gavin Fernando and James Matthey
2 min read
August 26, 2016 - 2:01PM
Nic Nat thinks more education is the answer.
Nic Nat thinks more education is the answer.

WEST Coast Eagles star Nic Naitanui has spoken out after a Perth mother’s Facebook post of her son dressed like the AFL star sparked widespread outrage.

Taking to social media, Naitanui wrote that the kid was “merely attempting to emulate his hero”, saying it “hurts my heart. Especially when that hero is me!”

“It’s a shame racism coexists in an environment where our children should be nurtured not tortured because they are unaware of the painful historical significance ‘blackface’ has had previously on the oppressed.”

The original post, made on commentator Constance Hall’s public Facebook page, shows the West Australian mother’s young son dressed as Naitanui — his favourite footy player.

The problem? She painted his skin with head-to-toe brown paint.

The mother’s original post.
The mother’s original post.

She described it as a “QUEENING moment”, said she was worried about “politically correct extremists” but added: “I grew a set of balls and painted my boy brown and he looked fanf***ingtastic”.

The post prompted widespread outrage.

Last night, Adam Briggs, an Indigenous rapper, comedian and actor, slammed the woman in a Facebook post about blackface.

He described it as an “obviously reckless, racist thing to do”, said he “thought it was a set up”, and went on to invalidate a series of common arguments that support blackface.

“Again and again. This is the attitude we face every moment. This was such an obviously reckless, racist thing to do — I thought it was a set up,” Briggs wrote.

“This mother has acknowledged what she was doing was wrong but decided she was going to ‘grow some balls’ and do it anyway with complete disregard to whoever she was going to offend.

“Can’t let a little bit of racism get in the way of ‘Book Week’. This is her ‘Queening’ moment. Queen of what?”

Speaking on Channel 9’s Today Show on Friday morning, 3AW radio’s Neil Mitchell also criticised the mother.

“She knew she was going to cause trouble with this ... don’t do it to the kid, it’s just not worth putting the kid in that position,” Mitchell said.

“She seems to have disappeared now, gone to ground, I hope she stays there for the sake of her son.

“The point is, it’s just not worth this division.”

Founder and CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre Kon Karapanagiotidis and sports writer Erin Riley were among those to blast the incident on social media.

For all the serious criticism being thrown the mother’s way, there were also those taking a slightly more light-hearted approach, asking what dressing up as a sportsman had to do with Book Week in the first place.

Naitanui will miss the Eagles’ finals campaign this September after the ruckman went down with a knee injury in his side’s fantastic 92-67 win against Hawthorn last Friday night.

The 26-year-old is a massive loss to the Perth side. He slotted the winning goal against GWS the week before with the final kick of the game and his clearance work at the centre bounce and ball-ups is up there with the best in the competition.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/sport/sports-life/nic-naitanui-spoke-out-after-a-mother-sent-her-chld-to-school-in-blackface/news-story/f02166c176ad55eb215dd6fc88a5d063