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]
>