'Merely attempting to emulate his hero...hurts my heart'

West Coast Eagles ruckman Nick Naitnui has called for more education on racial issues in the wake of the latest blackface incident.

A Perth mother posted this image to blogger Constance Hall's Facebook page of her young son dressed up as Naitanui for a Book Week Parade, with his skin painted black, along with a wig and Eagles jumper.

Naitanui posted this heartfelt message to his Twitter account, calling for the kid to be ‘nurtured’ and not ‘tortured’ over his mother's poor decision and that more education on the historical context of blackface was necessary.

“The young bloods innocence merely attempting to emulate his hero hurts my heart,” he said in his statement.

“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.

“I don’t believe the mother had any intention to cause harm, just wanted her kid to simply be “Nic Nat”, however may reflect on this and choose an alternate method next time #educationisthekey #evenivelearnt”

The mother posted that she had been worried about painting her son’s face due to “so many politically correct extremists these days,” but chose to anyway, describing her efforts as a "parenting win."

“He is pastey White (sic) and if I just sent him in a wig and footy gear, no one would tell who he was.”

"So I ... painted my boy brown and he looked fanf------tastic."

Indigenous rapper and social commentator Briggs described the incident as 'blatantly racist' saying that the mother's "ignorance is not an alibi".

"This was such an obviously reckless, racist thing to do — I thought it was a set up," he said, adding that the mother "should've stopped at the jumper and wig".

"The mother identified she knew this would be an issue and decided to paint her son anyway, genius."