Racist is as racist does; why good intentions mean nothing if you do racist things.

The Perth mother who shared a photo of her son in blackface on Constance Hall’s Facebook page has responded to claims that she is a racist.

In the post, which Constance Hall later deleted, the mother writes “I was a little worried about painting him (so many politically correct extremists these days) he is pastey White and if I just sent him in a wig and footy gear, no one would tell who he was.

“So I grew a set of balls and painted my boy brown and he looked fanfuckingtastic.

"After being told by everyone on Facebook not to do it and it's a horrible idea etc, my son won the fucking parade!!! Parenting win!"

Constance Hall, in a long post on Facebook, yesterday made a statement in relation to the photo. She explained why she believes blackface is offensive and why she found the mother's views about political correctness are wrong.

The mother later posted on Facebook and sought to clarify what her intentions were. She wrote, "When I stated 'I grew some balls' I did not mean I chose to offend anyone."

She has today told the Daily Mail, "This was not done in any form or racial or malicious intent.

"I've had to explain to a nine-year-old boy what is happening who cried and said exactly 'mum I dream of being Nic Nat I just wanted to be him for one day!'

"He was idolising his hero, and loved it. And it's been twisted into me being racist."

Many commenters on Facebook are backing the mother up, and point specifically to her intentions.

One commenter wrote, "Well, all I see is an innocent child & loving mother who only had the best intentions to honour said hero & are now being used as a "what not to do" based on your opinion of what is right/wrong, racist/non racist."

Another wrote, "Intention is everything. This child and the mum had pure and beautiful, creative and inspirational intentions. If you want to taint that and make it about racism then that's on you."

But here's the thing, whatever your intention is, it's meaningless in the face of such a blatantly racist action.

The mother openly stated in her original post that she had misgivings about doing it, she knew it was wrong, but then did it anyway and went so far as to brag about having done so in a public forum.

Intentions have no bearing on offence. Whatever it is you've done, painted your child in blackface, made a puerile and sexist joke in the workplace, called a gay man a "poofter", the intention behind your actions will never speak as loudly as the action itself.

Good intentions don't excuse racism and that's especially true for someone whose good intentions are related to her "pastey White" son and not related to the person of colour you're trying to imitate.

And listen to the people affected. They will tell you if something is racist. Responding to the uproar Naitanui said:

"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," he wrote on Twitter.

It's not like the AFL hasn't been having an ongoing conversation about the pervasive racism in our community.

It's been just on a year since Adam Goodes was booed by racist footy crowds. Last weekend a spectator threw a banana, a notoriously racist act, at Eddie Betts, an Indigenous Adelaide Crows player.

Greater Western Sydney management were forced to speak out against racism after an incident earlier this year where a spectator allegedly harassed a fellow spectator of Asian descent, telling her that she didn't "belong in this country."

The Mixed Grill discuss the Frankston Bombers 'blackface' scandal. Post continues below. 

It's not like we don't have this conversation nationally every time there's a blackface scandal. And it's not like the mother didn't understand that what she was doing was wrong. She herself stated in her original post that she had been warned by others that it was offensive.

The mother's actions were wrong. She knew painting her child's face would cause offence. But she did it anyway and then celebrated it.

But it's hard to imagine a more racist act than to acknowledge what you're doing is offensive and then to go ahead and do it anyway.

Postscript: Constance Hall has +posted about the abuse she is receiving following her post last night stating why she deleted the mum's post and why she believes blackface is wrong.

She says, "I have never received so much abuse in my life. I am being called a cunt from her family, I have received death threats, I ban them and they start new accounts, they are relentless. I have been called every name under the sun, called a fake, told that I am too big for my boots over and over again."

This is deeply unfair. Hall did not invite the mother to post the photo of her child dressed in blackface on her page. Hall deleted the post. Hall stated why she deleted the post and generously gave the mother the benefit of the doubt.

Let's be clear about what's happening here. Someone brought ugly racism to Constance Hall's space, and now because she did the right thing and removed it she is facing death threats.

Sexism and racism is alive and well here. And today, I'm ashamed to be an Australian.