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A town councilman in small Virginian town has apologized after wearing a deeply offensive and racist Halloween costume.
"[I] hurt a lot of folks and that was not my intention," Warsaw Councilman Faron Hamblin wrote on Facebook, according to NBC 12.
Hamblin's apology comes days after he post a photo of his Halloween costume on Facebook. Wearing an baby blue suit with a Black wig, Hamblin covered himself in makeup to darken his skin and emulate a Black character from the popular comedy, Coming To America.
“In honor of my late friend, I went out as the legendary Randy Watson tonight. Give it up for my band Sexual Chocolate,” the photo's caption read, according to NBC 12.
Hamblin did delete the photo, but he did not directly apologize for wearing blackface. Unfortunately, non-Black people wearing blackface is something that happens often on or around Halloween.
“When you don’t know what the history is, it may seem to you based on your knowledge of where we are today, it may seem to you that this is harmless and we’re all just having fun, but in doing that, we’re actually hurting people,” Dr. Andrea Simpson of the University of Richmond told NBC 12.
“Blackface minstrelsy originated from people who came to the South and observed Black people dancing, and the way that they entertained…They thought it would be fun to use Black cork or shoe polish to blacken their faces and then perform. The characters they come up with, Jim Crow, which was sort of a lazy, step and fetch it kind of character, and Zip C---, who was someone who dressed up and used a lot of big words incorrectly so all of the characters developed through minstrelsy played into stereotypes."
Making matters worse, Hamblin seemingly attempted to position himself as a victim in all of this. According to reports, he wrote on Facebook that he was "cut deep" by accusations that he was a racist.
“I try to be a good person and help others regardless of who they are," he added in spite of the fact he wore blackface.
At this time, it is unclear if his actions will have an impact on his position as an elected official.
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