I reviewed Terry
Teachout's biography of Louis Armstrong, and I missed the racism in it. I think that's because there wasn't any. But I'm just another white guy, so what do I know? Only wait, I'm not even a white guy, since, according to this fellow Payton, there aren't any white people:
To be Italian, Spanish, Jewish, or Polish, now that means something, but what does it mean to be White? It means that the basis of your history starts with a lie. Black is synonymous with being African, but being White is synonymous with no nation or culture in particular. To be White is to align yourself with centuries of violence and oppression. To be White is to say that you’re a part of those who went into Africa and told them your White Jesus is more powerful than their Black Ancestors. You came into our villages and told us we would go to hell if we didn’t serve your God. You separated children from their families, you emasculated and effeminated [sic] our boys and men, you raped our girls and women….
Wow. Dare I suggest that the Ibo, Kikuyu, and Bantu — and many others — might take exception to this. Bear in mind, one of my college classmates was the son of a Kikuyu chieftain. As for my own ethnic background, my brother and I call ourselves Heinzes, since we may have most of the 57 different varieties in us.
Which is more offensive: the writing, or the publication of the writing? Have editors and publishers lost their minds? Clearly the writer has lost his. The writer might want to consider more carefully his cultural, political, and physical geography before he persists in his dichotomies. He is so wrong on so many levels. Oh well, so much for our post-racial society.
ReplyDeleteNote: In the foregoing, when I speak of the writer, I am speaking of Payton. I should have been more clear. You know, it must be terrible living a life that is filled with so much anger and racial hatred. Payton is a sad, sad man.
ReplyDeleteI've only just read the piece. This guy Payton conflates a legitimate problem from the early 20th century (black musicians not getting respect for their music) with historians attempting accurately portraying that struggle. I read and enjoyed Terry's book, even naming it one of the best of 2013. It goes well out of its way to point to the Cotton Club's discriminatory practices (black musicians could play on stage but could not attend the club), as well as the hard bargains they had to strike to get attention. I brought this up with Terry when he appeared on The Bat Segundo Show, delineating in detail that there was no other way for Duke to grab mass attention and how these efforts, in turn, inspired other musicians (including Jimi Hendrix!) to create some of the most original and sublime music of the 20th century. Discussing these troubling truths, whether you are black or white, doesn't make you a racist. And this guy is bananapants. It's an embarrassing argument, especially when tireless figures like Mikki Kendall are busy fighting real discrimination, such as the exclusion of African-Americans among feminists. (See her #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen hashtag.) Or, for that matter, Kiese Laymon's highly original novel, LONG DIVISION, which offers some provocative comparisons between the Holocaust and slavery, when not staring unflinchingly at the nascent racism and casual white privilege that afflicts black people. (Payton should go after Robin Thicke. There's some truly despicable appropriation there.)
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