Yes, echoing Eliya, thanks for the perspective.

Chris

On Mon, Apr 27, 2015 at 2:36 PM, eliya gwetta <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Thank you for that Vincent.
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 27, 2015 at 1:24 PM, Vincent Pelote <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> David and Tom,
>>
>> As one of the pitifully few members of ARSC who are of African descent
>> ('Black" if you need me to spell it out), I must say that I always find it
>> interesting that the most outspoken critics of political correctness are
>> usually NOT the people for whom political correctness was meant to shelter
>> from racist speech, images, etc. I happen to have a thicker skin than most,
>> yet I find myself subconsciously cringing every time I hear the so called
>> "N" word no matter what the context (and I don't buy that clap trap that
>> the "N" word wasn't offensive in the day). Since neither of you gentlemen
>> will ever have that word hurled at you the way it has been at me, I think
>> your calling political correctness a "cancer" instead of racism interesting
>> and while I understand that political correctness can go overboard at
>> times, I see nothing wrong with trying to ease the years of hurt that
>> certain people in this society has had to endure for so long when racist
>> words and images were "acceptable." Think about it gentlemen. Do we really
>> need to call a football team the Washington Redskins, if it offends Native
>> Americans? Just my 2 cents worth and I really don't want to go into a long
>> series of emails about this.
>>
>> Vincent Pelote
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>
>> From: "Tom Fine" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Sent: Monday, April 27, 2015 11:38:28 AM
>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Pittsburgh's Stephen Foster Memorial Museum
>>
>> Hi David:
>>
>> This is the politically "correct" thought police at work. It's a cancer on
>> American society, created
>> and nurtured in academia. It's disgusting to me, because it's dishonest
>> and anti-truth. It's
>> straight out of George Orwell, as are most far-left academic notions.
>> Totally agree about Stephen
>> Foster. He was a major part of American musical and cultural history,
>> whether his lyrics "offend"
>> people whose default stance is moral "outrage" or not.
>>
>> -- Tom Fine
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "DAVID BURNHAM" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Monday, April 27, 2015 11:21 AM
>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Pittsburgh's Stephen Foster Memorial Museum
>>
>>
>> >I think one of the sadest developments in American musical history is the
>> ostracizing of Stephen
>> >Foster's music because he is described as being "racist". Stephen Foster
>> wrote prolifically about a
>> >period in history which was cruel to African Americans, (although, of
>> course, he never used that
>> >expression), but he always described them as honest, God fearing, family
>> oriented, loving people.
>> >Sure, some of his songs containg the "N" word, but he lived in a time
>> when that word wasn't used as
>> >offensively as it is today.
>> > Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan was a very morally upright person who
>> would not knowingly offend
>> > anyone, but he used the "N" word twice in "Mikado", (which is
>> occasionally described as offensive
>> > to the Japanese).
>> > "Showboat" is often described as racist. When it was to be shown in
>> Toronto to open a new concert
>> > venue over 20 years ago, there were huge outcries from protesters who
>> obviously didn't understand
>> > the work at all. "Showboat" was a curageous statement AGAINST racism at
>> a time when racist
>> > sentiments were quite acceptable, (late '20s). The very first word in
>> "Showboat" is the "N" word,
>> > (I'm not spelling it out because I don't want to offend anybody and if
>> there is automatic
>> > monitoring of ARSC posts, the presence of the word would cause the post
>> to be rejected), and that
>> > word is used throughout "Showboat", but anyone who knows "Showboat"
>> knows it's anything but
>> > racist. Paul Robeson was a very outspoken critic of anything racist and
>> would not participate in
>> > anything which was offensive to anyone, yet he was proud to appear in
>> "Showboat" and "Old Man
>> > River" almost became his theme song.
>> > db
>> >
>> >
>> > On Monday, April 27, 2015 10:56 AM, "Williams, Tim" <
>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> > Though not as big or eccentric as the Bayernhof Museum, Pittsburgh's
>> Stephen Foster Memorial
>> > Museum is much more accessible and quick to tour:
>> >
>> >
>> > http://www.pitt.edu/~amerimus/Museum.htm
>> >
>> >
>> > It's on Forbes Avenue (lots of buses go from Downtown up Forbes) in
>> Oakland, at the foot of the
>> > University of Pittburgh's gigantic Cathedral of Learning and across the
>> street from the Carnegie
>> > Museums and Library and the Dippy the Dinosaur statue.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > See lots of you folks a month from now!
>> >
>> > Tim
>> >
>> >
>> > Timothy R. Williams
>> >
>> > Librarian
>> >
>> > Music, Film & Audio Department
>> >
>> > Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Check out this list of Pittsburgh jazz musicians:
>> >
>> >
>> http://carnegielibrary.org/research/music/pittsburgh/pittsburghjazzmusicians.html
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Vincent Pelote
>> Interim Director
>> Institute of Jazz Studies
>> Rutgers University
>> Dana Library
>> 185 University Avenue
>> Newark, NJ 07102
>> phone: 973-353-5595
>> email: [log in to unmask]
>>