CALM DOWN ABOUT BLACKFACE, ALREADY

Listening to the recent shrill social justice calls about blackface being a horrific past racist mark in 100% of cases continues to grate on me, as I observe yet another dumbing-down of society and crime against historical truth taking place in the name of political correctness for current political ends.  What is most abhorrent to me is observing those who ought to know better doing the work of the Marxist America-haters as they jump on the revisionist band wagon in a forlorn quest to appear as racially "woke" as any leftist in demonizing any instance of blackface, no matter the lasting consequences.

This writer is old enough to remember a time when Mark Twain's Huck Finn was widely read in the original, and Joel Chandler Harris' Brer Rabbit was still thought to be a fine series for children.  (I also had a "Little Black Sambo" book when a small child, though later I was in a group sponsored by the post-1960s restaurant Sambo's that had whitefaced its public image.)  I am not here to defend Ralph Northam's college antics by any means, as that photo with the post-Simmons era KKKlansman would have only been funny had his buddy been a genuine student of color.  (I will admit being personally amused at the nonsense directed against Virginia governor primary candidate Corey Stewart for being pro-Confederate monument and pro-Virginian heroes (of whatever skin color), only to be defeated by race-baiting, South-hating RINO propaganda, and the irony that Gillespie was then defeated by Northam.  Gillespie would have done better to check Northam's yearbook rather than worrying about Stewart -- but RINOs worrying most about conservatives is another topic.)

The truth of the matter is that skin color - by itself - means nothing.  If a particular character - like Othello, or like the Watermelon Man who changes from white cracker to a black man - has a particular skin color or other attributes, then the makeup must follow.  Any prejudice, hatred or demeaning intentions - and yes, admiration, love and/or praise - should and will be adjudged by the objective and wise critic.  Shakespeare is under enough attack as a DWM (dead white man) and - mostly - for being so emblematic of the achievements of Western Civilization and Elizabethan England that the hard Left would love to add the demonization of blackfaced characters to the list of false charges.  While there would be a certain ironic justice in seeing today's politics demonize THE Master of political spin (circa 1590-1611), anyone seeking any wisdom whatsoever must rise above simplistic and revisionist definitions of details such as blackface or words.  The hard Left works diligently to redefine such things (i.e., pre-1950 usage of the word 'gay') such that current and future readers must resist the devil's temptation to become distracted.

It's now the same with blackface.  There's a fine little video on YouTube posted by "Today I Found Out" called Al Jolson - Misunderstood Hero or Villain?   Despite a couple of quibbles about the post-Simmons era KKK (i.e., the percentage of members in Indiana was one-quarter of voting-age men, and that heyday of that era's KKK was over by 1925 and D.C. Stephenson's trial - before talkies), they do a great job reminding us that there was a time in segregated America when blackfaced entertainers were a POSITIVE - because it was one of the few ways persons of color COULD be portrayed to the white audiences of the time.  Many people (of all skin colors) realized this was a part of the civil rights struggle of their times and done in order to get to that better, brighter future.  (Personal note - please enjoy I Love to Singa - with Al Jolson & Cab Calloway - I only discoverd this after a cartoon about the song.)

Another reason that Jolson is less offensive to me than some other blackfaced characterizations and performances is that minstrelsy was itself an American art form - at one time, celebrated throughout the world. 

 (Demonizing American history is, after all, what the hart Left does, as America-haters cannot allow the possibility of a positive American heritage and history.)  Minstrelsy was not dependent upon using blackface.  Minstrels could be any skin color.  The Georgia Minstrels were one of many such groups - one which toured internationally, and which was not bound by stereotypes.

Most people today have no idea just how popular throughout the world Thomas Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice's "Jim Crow" character was.  After 25 years of being celebrated throughout the world, it was Rice's blackfaced character who originated the Uncle Tom character in "Life Amongst the Lowly" in the first performances of Uncle Tom's Cabin.  And whilst this writer is no advocate for antebellum Yankee abolitionist agitation, I would think most who remember Lincoln's comments to Harriet Beecher Stowe might well credit a blackface performance as being an effective tool in her propaganda.  It is a nod to the power and influence of Rice's Jim Crow character - as well as the Uncle Tom character - that those names have been so reused and redefined through subsequent cultural applications.  Just a reminder to those unfamiliar with the actual history:  the character of Uncle Tom was a beloved, respected man, just as the original Jim Crow persona was more of a Will Rogers social critic - much more meaningful and worthy than SJWs would have us believe.

I think of all these who now demonizing blackface one day coming across Gene Wilder in Silver Streak.  Of course, 1976 was - just as with these current politicians and their photographs - a time when Richard Pryor was recognized as a star, a genius AND actually funny (unlike most of today's political comedy).  It was post-segregation-era, either actual or de facto.  Spike Lee's Bamboozled Blackface Montage intersperses scenes from Jolson and Stepin Fetchit (Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry - his real name - became a millionaire, by the way) to emphasize the stereotypical aspects.  But I must argue that one could make similar montages concerning any stereotype.  I grew up with many of those images.  I guess - given this montage - that we are being told that we MUST demonize Gene Wilder AND Richard Pryor as being racists, hmmm Mr. Lee?

Entertainment is not real life.  The problem with the images that Spike Lee presents is not that they existed.  The problem is that there weren't enough Paul Robesons and Sidney Poitiers (for two examples) doing fine performances to balance them.  It is also important to remember that such performers were out there, albeit in more limited venues.  Valuing what people do in challenging times is often one of the ways we document progress - even if it is in noting what people do in order for their children to have those opportunities.

No one but a racist sees any of those images and thinks such is what all persons of color are, just as no one but a racist thinks that this is what all one group perceives of them.  And no one but a Marxist divider seeks to perpetuate either view.  Sometimes a character is just a character.  In John Ford's Judge Priest, for one example, Frank Melton's barber Flem Talley is more offensive a character than Stepin Fetchit's Jeff Poindexter.  The barber is a hateful jerk, whilst Jeff is Judge Priest's friend and helper.   The viewer today will not know that Will Rogers and Lincoln T.M.A. Perry were friends in real life, nor that chicken thieving was a great virtue amongst Confederate veterans.  But Spike Lee tries to ensure that his audience knows that Judge Priest is a racist pro-Confederate movie and nothing more - and this deeply concerns me.  What else shall the Left destroy, along with Mark Twain's and Joel Chandler Harris' works?  Now, every movie with a blackface scene must be hatred and nothing more if the Left has their way.

And here's the rub...  Every blackface scene or mention of the Confederacy - for two examples - begs the script, of apologies for slavery and racism.  And yet, as a woman, all that happened prior to 1919 doesn't beg a script for apologies over depriving women of the vote.  For another example... Many of the same people promoting social justice these days tend to be those who are feeding anti-Semitism, quite the opposite of apologies for both slavery and hatred - and genocide, given how the WWII Holocaust is rarely taught whilst fantasies of the antebellum South are largely mis-taught.

We have far bigger issues than historically outdated makeup applications.  It's not as though there is much threat of racists wearing KKK hoods and blackface today.  Of course, there is apparently far greater threats of infanticide and late-term abortions, whether or not performed by doctors - which is another Northam controversy.  It is a great sadness that to all too many people, the blackface controversy is drawing more calls for Northam's resignation than his comments on killing babies of whatever skin color.