Jasper in January has come and gone for another year. The town was full, the restaurants were packed and for the most part the events were well attended. The organizers did an admirable job.

Yet there was one incident which left a bad taste in my mouth.

The chili cook-off – and no, not because of my veggie leanings.

One of the booths included a Tiger Woods parody, encouraging chili lovers to putt for chili. No problem there.

But the man dressed as Tiger Woods was in blackface. This is wrong.

This isn’t the first occasion the chili cook-off has had blackface incident. Previous years have also included white community members dressed in similar costumes.

There is a fine line between satire and offensive material, and I believe there was no malicious intent behind the booth. The booth was aimed for laughs, and was timely enough given the slew of Tiger Woods jokes.

But based on the historic connotations of such an image, it’s still misguided and wrong.

Why? Check out the history of North American civilization.

Blackface found its roots in the United States in the 1830s as part of ‘minstrel shows’ where white actors would colour their face and satirize the lifestyle and intelligence of African Americans. It offered  an offensive peek into the apparent life of the cotton picker, serving to humiliate and degrade African Americans, portraying them as simple tans. The minstrel show appeared in Hollywood and on stage for the early part of the century. During the human rights movement of the 1960s, African Americans rallied against the image, pointing to the practice as another form of oppression, as blacks were portrayed as inferior intellectually and physically.

Blackface is a representation of white oppression. A cruel memory of colonialization and slavery which bred one of the greatest injustices in North American history. So it’s no wonder the move is still taboo. The wounds of racial segregation are still relatively fresh and extremely offensive to many.

Today, it’s still cringe-inducing. Fashion magazines will occasionally use blackface to stir controversy. On university and college campuses, the activity still generates a firestorm of debate. Several fraternities in the United States have had their students issue apologies and suffer severe reprimands following mindless Halloween parties. In the United States, fraternities have had to apologize publicly after students dressed as the Jackson 5, Charles Barkley and others. In November 2009, several white students at the University of Toronto were reprimanded for dressing up as the Jamaican bobsled team. Their black friend was in white face, dressed as John Candy. NHL star Patrick Kane also drew the ire of fans when he dressed as former Chicago Bulls forward Scottie Pippen in full body make-up.

There is a difference between satire and racist characterization. Dressing as Tiger Woods is different than dressing as a black slave, but the spectre of past still taints both images.

Recent films such as the Spike Lee directed Bamboozled and Tropic Thunder challenged the usage of blackface, exposing the idiocy of those who attempt it. I hardly think the chili cook-off is the correct venue for such a political statement. Let’s hope this is the end of such ignorant behavior in Jasper.