Politically (in)correct Song

It's a funny thing, "political correctness."

This is prompted by a Disney decision - actually a continuing decision by the corporate mouse masters - to withhold distribution of "Song of the South" as a DVD or on other media.

Some of us know "Song of the South" as Uncle Remus stories. Uncle Remus was the main character, albeit overshadowed by the likes of Br'r Rabbit, Br'r Fox, and Br'r Bear.

An American Aesop Uncle Remus was.

Unfortunately, Uncle Remus was a black cartoon - sorry, "animated" - character.

The reason Disney officials present to the public is that they fear Uncle Remus might offend people with a permanent suntan.

I'm always amazed at "white" folk who look down on "colored" folk . . . and then go to the beach or tanning parlor to become as "colorful" as the "colored" folk. Boggles my mind.

The Disney people may be partially correct in their concern.

I used to live in Pinellas County in Florida. Pinellas is across the bay from Tampa.

What's the connection ?

This.

Pinellas County, with a fair sized Jewish population, has a Jewish museum with a boxcar said to have carried Jews to the extermination camps. The rail car is a physical reminder of our history.

Tampa had an opportunity to be a permanent host for the ship Amistad. The Amistad was a Portuguese sailing vessel that came to fame when its cargo of bound-for-slavery Africans overthrew the crew and took over the ship. Steven Spielberg turned the tale into a movie and brought the ship's history to a new audience.

The Tampa Bay black community, for whatever reason and unlike the Jewish community, considered the Amistad to be insulting, a reminder of a time they apparently would prefer to forget. (Forgetting slavery is a bit hard for a Jew to understand; we still recall, at least once a year, our slavery in Egypt. But, different strokes for different folks.)

Anyway, the Amistad finally found a home in New Haven CT.

Apparently the New Haven black community had a different view of the ship than the people of Tampa Bay.

I believe I saw "Song of the South" as a child. I know - no doubt about it - that I read Uncle Remus stories complete with "deep south" accents ("Lawd, don' throw me inta that briar patch, Br'r Bear"). I recall the tar baby story every time I say "Howdy" to someone who fails to respond in kind.

I knew a grandmother who searched and searched for "Uncle Remus Tales." Unlike this scrivener, she lacked Internet search experience or else sufficient nosiness. She was delighted when I told her the name of the book she sought was "Song of the South." Did she buy it? I never found out.

To paraphrase a phrase attributed to a mid-19th century president, "You can satisfy some of the people some of the time, but you can't satisfy all of the people all of the time."

There is, I read, the fear that youngsters seeing "Song of the South" or reading the book (do kids still read? do parents still read to them?) will develop prejudices or inferiority complexes.

I think we are being over cautious. I doubt any of the denizens of "Song of the South" inculcated racism in me. (Who knows, maybe there is a racial or political or, gasp, sexual undertone to Winnie-the-Pooh stories - Tigger does enjoy jumping on the other characters. Hummm.)

Uncle Remus is not a character who invites derision or scorn. Indeed, Uncle Remus is like the uncle, or grandfather, most of us would delight in having. I can't see why there are those who would feel lessened by a release of "Song of the South."

But then I still don't understand why some folks don't want history in their briar patch and others do.

yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com