Look at a Black Man

So, if you've noticed the increasing scarcity of black people on TV and in movies lately, and you live in the suburbs, it's probably been a while since you've seen an actual black person, so you can see one here: to view African American click here.

The link, by the way, is to a beautiful site about the American hero Paul Robeson. In addition to being a great scholar, activist and actor, he was the owner of one the most beautiful voices in the history of recording. And though he was classically trained in the lineage of the great teacher Garcia, and his early recordings display a remarkable technique (to here model bass high voice production click here) Robeson rarely sang opera, as it was generally considered upsetting to have black people sing songs written by dead white men.



More beautiful music files can be found here:
music files here.

So I had this conversation this morning about how, well, since they took black people off TV I hardly ever see them any more. And that led to this post.

By the way, I've determined that this post sounds pretty racist, but that is necessarily so. So first let me apologize. You see, it's our society's habit to cover over all our steaming shittiness with rose gardens. And if Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly say that racism and discrimination are things of the past, then most Americans want to believe them. And it must be true, I mean people tell me all the time that THEY AREN'T RACIST:

It usually goes something like this: "now I'm not racist, but..." and then they say something about the way --insert your favorite minority here-- people: smell bad, are lazy, are destroying america, caused the sinking of the titanic.... or some other "Non-racist" statement about the inferiority darker skin color.

So, firstly, if you are intentionally racist, let me inform you that you are an idiot. Perhaps I'm being a little hard on you because I myself am in an "inter-racial" relationship: while my earlobes are properly attached, my girlfriend has well, detached earlobes. But, I don't hold it against her because it's not her fault, and SHE'S not like those other ones. Yes, according to some geneticists, "earlobe" attachment is a better basis for establishing race scientifically than skin color. So, if you're white, and you think you hate black people or vice versa, here's the bad news: if "African genes" were cooties, we'd all be itchin with the critters. And "black people" are so varied genetically that if you took two random black people and two random white people, the black people would statistically probably have more in common genetically with the white people than they do with each other. Actually, I just heard an "African American Studies" professor explaining on the radio that he should really be teaching "Northern European Studies," because although his skin is black, he is genetically almost entirely Irish. Not that that really matters, because as he explained it, all Europeans are a sub set of one type of African: "the small northern-most bit of Africa called 'Europe.'"

And Secondly, if you're not one of those idiots with pointy white hats, it's time to give up the act and admit it. Unless you are from a different planet, you were probably raised, like I was, as a racist. And unless you are remarkably dim, some of it probably took even despite your best efforts.

Yes, even being a super liberal, raised as I was by a pack of socialist wolves, I have to admit these ugly little tendencies in myself. In our society, being white and seemingly middle(ish) class, people say horrible, horrible racist things to/in front of you, even when you are still young, quite routinely.

Luckily for me however, my grandparents and mother couldn't have set a better example, when someone said something racist in front of me, they would quite vigorously tell them that it was inappropriate to talk that way, especially in front of children.

So I learned to congratulate myself heartily for being so un-racist by the time I got into high school. And when I went to college, I congratulated myself for having actual black people as friends (or at least that I hung out with them now and then.) But one day discovered that one of these black friends of mine was smarter than I was,

and I was surprised.

"How did that happen," i thought, "I mean, they aren't that smart on TV."

So it was a subtle little thing, but ugly. And once I discovered that little bit of ugliness, I started searching myself, and I found other subtle little bits of racist programming.

And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you kids and that dog....

OK, so the lecture's over kids, daddy has gained some weight, and his soap box is getting creaky....