The recently introduced concepts of
“political correctness” and “cultural misappropriation” are reaching the point
of hysteria.
Item:
If there is no Black actor or singer available, Othello is not being
played with black face any more. In
that way, the explicit references to his “blackness”, that are instrumental in
the play and opera, make the conflict
meaningless! (Compare: NO ONE objected
when Denzel Washington played Hickey in “The iceman cometh” last year, despite
the fact that the denizens of that sleepy bar would unlikely so lovingly
embrace a black man in their midst!) Al
Jolson became one the greatest entertainers with his blackface: he donned it on
as a tribute to the black performers, NOT to denigrate them!
Item: Buildings get renamed after a huge
amount of money is donated: thus there
are now Koch theatre and Geffen Hall in the Lincoln Plaza. Buildings and institutions should bear names conveying
their function: thus “New York State Theater” was just right and the New York Philharmonic
would make more sense to play in “Concert Hall”, rather than some rich donor’s
named facility.
Item: Triboro Bridge was a perfect name,
clearly denoting its function (what did RFK have to do with the building or
purpose of it???) Tappan Zee Bridge was
clearly coming from Tappan across the Hudson (Mario Cuomo was a very decent
guy, but why should the bridge bear his name?)
Item: George Washington Bridge too is only
an honorary name…But wait: there may be a campaign somewhere brewing to rename
it since Washington owned slaves!
Item: renaming SUNY dormitories to erase
names of long-dead slave-owners seems preposterous. Agreed,
naming student dorms after New Paltz founders does not necessarily make
too much sense and they would be indeed be better called some flower names, or
activity names. I am totally baffled by
“…students testified as to how living and eating in buildings named for slave owners
impacted their lives.” HOW? Were they not able to sleep, worrying about
the slaves? Was food making them sick,
as they contemplated the long dead slaves?
What about students living in the dorms BEFORE the movement to rename:
were their lives also impacted? Believe
me, I am only trying to point out that
those sentiments are artificial, result of the current hysteria. (Americans have always been fond of
hysteria: just think about the Salem witchhunts – yes, genuine witchhunts,
unlike the currently so labeled legal investigation – marvelously presented in “The
Crucible”.)
I wonder: is there someone a campaign brewing
to rename George Washington Bridge (also purely an honorary name) so that
Blacks and all of us who naturally condemn slavery – whether then or now, and
yes, it is still with us today -- don’t feel “distressed” driving across?
No decent person can condone slavery in any
shape or form, it is a reprehensible way to treat people. Yet it has been around even before
Christianity which itself has brought about many many deaths in the name of
higher “beings” and powers. And unlike
today, when slave trafficking abuses primarily white (yet foreign born!) women, already ancient Egypt and the Roman
Empire used captured peoples as slaves.In the 18th-19th century North
America, slavery was the modus
operandi (and let us not forget that even some slaves themselves owned
slaves!), just like today people buy and own their gadgets, whether they need
them or not.
In my view, renaming the dorms because the
names belong to long long dead slaveowners, is a misguided move. I feel for the bearers of those names who
may start feeling ostracized. Hopefully,
New Paltz Village/Town will have more common sense and will not start removing
names of those families from our streets and areas.
No comments:
Post a Comment