CONTOURS OF BLACK FACE & PAYING DUES ON THE ROCK ROAD

     ocean rock off fiscalini ranch preserve  cambria

      A place of sanity and civility is a tough spot to find these days. The most recent black face blow up might offer a ledge, precarious though. 
     And ahead in this double post is a photo essay on paying dues on the music highway.

the rutted road of black face

       spanish moss tunnel on jack creek road templeton 

       Black face had its origins in Europe. It was used in theatre to permit white actors to play dark skinned characters, including Othello. It did not begin as an act of racial denigration.
       The "racism" of black face began in the early 1800's in  theater when characters with demeaned qualities were played by actors in black face. British theatre of the 1800's also used black face to portray Black people in stereotyped and derogatory ways. They were portrayed as stupid, lazy, slow talking, sexually aggressive, easily frightened, and worse. That same hurtful poison was poured by American theatre. By the mid 1800's actors in black face did music and comedy skits feeding the stereotypes. Minstrel shows toured and carried the racist stereotypes far and wide. 

even disney

     In the 20th century film, animation and even Disney cartoons perpetuated the stereotypes.
     This occurred in an age when racism was rampant, but ignored. White government and majority white society functioned as though it was blind to, insensitive of or ignorant about the damage and hurt caused by the perpetuation of the stereo types much less the under girding de Jure and de Facto segregation and racism. Such behavior is inevitable in a nation where many of the founders owned slaves.
    These are undeniable truths. It is also true that not all people who have put on black face are racists. They may be stupid, but not necessarily racist. 

stupid

    If this nation did a better job of teaching real history, and respecting the truth of our heritage, contemporary Americans would know how hurtful it is. 
    I wrote here earlier that Megyn Kelly was not automatically a racist when she raised the issue of black face, stupid probably, ill advised and her network bosses succumbed to perceived outrage and she was released. 
    Now that black leaders and community leaders have come to the defense of the Virginia Governor, it may offer that ledge to have a conversation about a couple of things.

in the national dna

     First, the US must acknowledge its racist and genocidal heritage and then teach it. Our government, our system of life, perpetuated, enabled and encouraged racism and ethnic genocide. 

not fully human

    People of color were not recognized as full human beings, that was in our charter. Before that we did not recognize the sovereignty of the first citizens of this continent. As terrible as it has been for African Americans, it has been worse for native Americans. This nation slaughtered millions of native inhabitants. When the murder stopped, we then lied to and cheated them. That is who we are, and what we did. Thank God men and women of conscience and increasing intelligence have reshaped, refined and corrected our national establishment, but it has been a long battle and it continues.

reason, don't screech

    Second, and this needs saying. Stupid things done by a student 35 years ago should not be the automatic disqualifier for a person who otherwise has demonstrated good judgment, citizenship and character. Who did not make poor judgments in their youth?
     There are limits here. Dressing up like Michael Jackson, or Al Jolson may have been stupid but it is not like doing a crime of violence. Being overtly racist, abusive, discriminatory or committing sexual assault are more serious than dressing up. We need to acknowledge that.
     There is a screeching factor in American politics today that borders on hysteria. It is loud and it drowns out common sense, civility and due process. It makes victims of the system and can injure people more grievously than some of the so called alleged offenses.  To those who are calling for the Virginia governor's dismissal, I urge you to point some of that venom toward the American mass culture and educational system that has failed to teach just what black face is, the whole story. 
      It is offensive and dangerous when a society fails to know and learn from history. We have much to learn, and a lot of making amends to do. 

 the music road

   the pour house  paso robles

    Davy and the Midnights do a sound check at a tap room in Paso Robles. Their tour of the California coast takes them from LA to San Francisco and north.

   Haven't heard of them? You may someday. They play country, blues, rock and the sort of fare that keeps you alive playing bars. Their own music is good and they are refining it in an LA studio. 
   They are young, on the road and paying their dues.
   Lead singer Davey Allen is also the keyboard player for Eric Burdon and the Animals and has played with other big name rockers. He's got a great band.

    Guitarist Greg Cahill is a superb player. Full disclosure-His dad is a life long friend. We've watched Greg from when he first sat at a piano as a tyke.  He's true LA pro. 
    But that doesn't make life on the road easy.

      cayucos saloon and card room  the"tav"  cayucos

     After the Paso gig it was on to a place to sleep, briefly. An early morning wake up put them on the road to Carmel Valley for a three hour acoustic performance at a winery. The long drive back slammed into showing up in Cayucos to set up for the Saturday night show at the old Saloon.

    These guys are not in the music royalty, yet. They are their own roadies, engineers and set up men.

     On the road, you never know what kind of set up and acoustics you'll find.

     It takes a little psychology and musical alchemy to get a sense of the crowd, what they want to hear, and then feed them.

     There's no time to perfect the "room" for sound or staging. Just get up there and do it.

      After the second set at the Saturday night show, I told him it takes someone a lot younger than me to keep up the pace.                        

      In the next 8 days they'll be in San Rafael, Sacramento, San Francisco, Fairfax, Blue Lake, Arcata, Brookings Or., and Crescent City.

    Rock on!

     See you down the trail.

Black Face-Megyn Kelley-The Boogeyman-And The THUG

     Something cute and precious is coming up.

But first a note about this world we boogeymen are creating for the innocents.

words matter

   In 2017 there was a 90% percent increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in US schools, K-12.

    There was a 60% rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the adult world.

     The FBI says in 2016 there were 6,121 criminal incidents motivated by bias against race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or gender. That was a huge rise since the Obama and Bush years. 

      This year, after two years of Trump there has been another dramatic increase in hate crimes, anti Semitic violence and mass shootings.

       We'll return to these matters after a softer target-Megyn Kelly.

the megyn kelly paradox

   Megyn Kelly is an intelligent, educated, experienced person. I presume when she made her comment about the appropriateness of wearing black face at Halloween she was operating on the assumption that she was speaking in concert with high principle. In fact she may have thought she was intoning the principle of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that color of skin is not as important as character. Again I assume she thought white people wearing black face, or black people wearing white face was fine, acceptable and a sign of how "evolved" we have become. I don't think she thought she was being racially insensitive, however.....

    The fact that a multi million dollar television personality was so dead wrong is a snap shot of how racially insensitive and perhaps even ignorant this culture is. That her pretty little head could not, or would not grasp the grave insensitivity and callousness of her remarks is a loud and ugly confirmation of the racism that exists in this culture.

    We fail miserably at beginning to understand the meaning and significance of something like black face to people of color. Though someone might not think a comment or action is hurtful or disrespectful, it underscores how little we think about people who are not like us or who derive from a different life experience.  We fail to learn to appreciate or be sensitive to the cultural and life history of other races, ethnicity, gender and orientation. 

     Frankly I was stunned that a woman at the center of a 23 million dollar contract, on a major network could be so mindless as to not know more about the cultural dynamite of black face. And that is only one famous example of how little we know, or care. 
      I don't think Megyn Kelly is a vicious racist, but her inability to perceive the hurtfulness of what she said to fellow citizens, or the desire to even contemplate the impact of her words was wrong and pretty much explains why and how we are in such a divisive time.

where does the buck stop

   Right or wrong, US citizens look to the Presidency to set a tone, to be a moral arbiter, to be a kind of surrogate parent figure. 

    "The phenomena we're seeing post-2016 hasn't been seen in modern political history, which is once the election was over, people - ordinary people - Americans who voted for Trump continued to demonize and hate Hillary voters and vice versa. And that's still going on today two years later. "

       The comment is from Carolyn Lukensmeyer, executive director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse in a conversation with Lulu Garcia Navarro. She calls the rhetoric of the Trump years a very different phenomena, a "virus."

      Ariela Schachter a sociologist at Washington University says people become more measurably negative after being exposed to Trump's negative messages about immigrants. And it gets worse after it is magnified by media.

       Trump's tweets and his performance at his frequent rallies enforce negativity, incite the extreme right and racists.

       Schachter says Trump's tone, style and message is pernicious.

         "I do think, though, that we have to consider the power dynamics. So the president of the United States has a uniquely powerful position to amplify the messages that he's sending out in ways that the rest of us don't. I also think we need to think about the impact of this rhetoric on immigrant communities in the United States"

          Lukensmeyer says probably 10-12 percent on the far right and 8-10 percent on the far left have "no interest" in ending the hostility or "closing the divide." But she says that leaves a full 75-80% of the rest of us who what to cool it down.
      Trump's tone has been nothing but divisive. His father was an accused racist doing illegal real estate practices. The Trump presidential campaign began with a racist attack on Obama (the birth certificate) and Mexican emigres, followed by the Muslim travel ban and continues to this day as he amps up fear and hatred. His most recent lies about the "caravan" being a case in point.  
       His base and supporters refuse to address these issues of blatant deceit and divisiveness. Fox betrayed their real motivation when they tried to plant the idea the pipe bomber was a "false flag," ruse by liberals and democrats. That is typical of the way the right and the regressives distort and divert. It is a danger sign for the republic when so many ignore the authoritarian and anti American behavior of the thug president. 

for the record

     US intelligence agencies report Chinese and Russian spies listen to Trump calls on his iPhones. Trump lied when he said he uses only government phones. He speaks with friends and tweets and even discusses sensitive information on non secure phones. Remember how much heat a particular candidate received for using a non government server for e-mails?

     Remember when Republicans pretended to be fiscal hawks and screamed about the deficit? For the record, the deficit is up 17% under this President. Where's the indignation now? The zombie apocalypse may well be the Republican party under Trump.

a pivot

from the obscene to the joyful

   The Morro Bay United Methodist Children's Center sponsors a safe alternative to Trick or Treat outings for the little ones.

 It's called a Trunk or Treat Spooktacular. Parents decorate trunks and hand out sweets as the kids in costume collect goodies in the parking lot.

  The guys in the two following frames added live "creatures" for the kids to see and touch, if they wanted to.

   Before the trunk treating there is a costume parade around the Children's Center playground. 

     Safe fun.

  

      Good times and candy.  Adult life should be so sweet.

    See you down the trail.