MAO'S CULTURAL REVOLUTION ENGULFS MORE OF AMERICA

Why We Need a New Civil War Documentary

The success and brilliance of the new PBS series on Reconstruction is a reminder of the missed opportunity facing the nation

y Keri Leigh Merritt

SMITHSONIAN.COM
APRIL 23, 2019

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-we-need-new-civil-war-documentary-180971996/#4YzVZ3pGROfbg4OW.99

Airing over a span of five nights during late September in 1990, Ken Burns’ “The Civil War” remains, to this day, the only documentary that claims to explain the entirety of the war that engulfed the United States in the mid-19th century. “The Civil War”’s premiere became the most-watched PBS program at the time, with the nine-episode series carrying a total running time of 11 hours, and to this day it remains one of the most popular shows ever to air on public broadcasting. Garnering scores of awards, “The Civil War” has now influenced generations of Americans and shaped their beliefs about slavery, the war itself, and its aftermath. The documentary had an outsized effect on how many Americans think about the war, but it’s one that unfortunately lead to a fundamental misunderstanding about slavery and its legacies—a failing that both undergirds and fuels the flames of racism today.

…

You can read her full article on the Smithsonian web site. Below is my comment on her article:

humura • 3 days ago

I recall the original Civil War series. Various historians were interviewed, and there were differences of opinion. My main objection was the failure to use music of the war, so many moving songs. Instead, they used a modern tune played on a violin. I suspect, they did not want to play many of the rousing songs of the Confederacy (too politically incorrect, even decades ago). Stephen Foster, the most popular of song-writers of that era, wrote the campaign song in the 1860 election, not for Lincoln, not for Northern Democrat Douglas, but for Southern Democrat Breckenridge. Let us hear it.
No series will please everyone. She complains the old series did not have university professors. When you considet the POLITICAL qualifications to teach at most universities, it is probably best they they were not so involved in the production of the series.
Dr. Merritt even brings into the conversation the accent of Shelby Foote to discredit him. I am old enough to recall when this was done by racists to discredit Blacks. Now the "good" doctor does it to discredit whites. - Hugh Murray

Philadelphia Flyers Remove Statue of Singer Kate Smith Amid Allegations of Racism

The team will also no longer play Smith’s famed rendition of ‘God Bless America’

By Brigit Katz

SMITHSONIAN.COM
APRIL 24, 2019

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/philadelphia-flyers-remove-statue-singer-kate-smith-amid-allegations-racism-180972026/#XqhBJeGTEU1dU2Ds.99

Since the late 1960s, a rendition of “God Bless America” by Kate Smith, one of the most prolific and popular American singers of the 20th century, has been a good luck charm for the Philadelphia Flyers. “The team began to win on nights the song was played,” the New York Times wrote in Smith’s 1986 obituary. Smith sang the tune live during game six of the 1974 Stanley Cup finals, which the Flyers went on to win against the Boston Bruins, taking home the coveted trophy. But as Anastasia Tsioulcas reports for NPR, the Flyers recently announced that they will no longer play Smith’s recording of “God Bless America” at games. A statue of the singer that stood outside the team’s arena has been removed.

The sudden change of heart was prompted by revelations that Smith had recorded at least two songs with racist lyrics in the 1930s. Last week, the New York Yankees, which had been regularly playing Smith’s recording during the seventh-inning stretch since 9/11, decided to switch to a keyboard version of “God Bless America” after the songs were brought to their attention. “The Yankees have been made aware of a recording that had been previously unknown to us and decided to immediately and carefully review this new information,” a spokesperson told Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. “And while no final conclusions have been made, we are erring on the side of sensitivity.”

Quickly following suit, the Flyers said in a statement on Sunday that while the team has “enjoyed a long and popular relationship with ‘God Bless America,’ as performed by the late Kate Smith,” it had recently learned that several of her songs “include lyrics and sentiments that are incompatible with the values of our organization, and evoke painful and unacceptable themes.” The statue of Smith that had been erected outside the Flyers’ Spectrum arena in 1987—and, when that venue was demolished, had been moved to the parking lot of Xfinity Live!—was cloaked in black and subsequently taken down.

One of the songs to come under scrutiny is “That’s Why Darkies Were Born,” which was written for a 1931 Broadway revue. The song was also performed by Paul Robeson, the famed African-American actor and bass baritone, and some have argued that it is a satire of racist attitudes. But for modern listeners, it is difficult to hear a white woman sing lyrics like, “Someone had to pick the cotton/Someone had to plant the corn/Someone had to slave and be able to sing/That's why darkies were born.”

Critics have also pointed to “Pickaninny Heaven,” which Smith performed for the 1933 film Hello, Everybody!, according to CNN’s Harmeet Kaur. Smith addresses the song to “a lot of little colored children, who are listening in at an orphanage in New York City,” and croons about a heaven filled with “great big watermelons.”...For the full article see:

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/philadelphia-flyers-remove-statue-singer-kate-smith-amid-allegations-racism-180972026/#XqhBJeGTEU1dU2Ds.99

My comment at the Smithsonian site:

humura • 3 days ago

Some people hate America and its past. Kate Smith sang a song today's Left condemns as racist, so she is a racist and destroy her statue, her records, her past. The Left is criminal!

One of the "racist songs sung by Kate Smith was also sung by Paul Robeson, the radical who spoke at Snick gatherings in the early 1940s (Southern Negro Youth Congress), and a leader of the 1948 Progressive Party that attacked segregation in the South, and in the late 1930s Robeson co-chaired a Scottsboro Defence Committee in Britain with Johnstone Kenyatta (later, known as Jomo when he led the Mau Mau to end British rule in Kenya). At the time Smith and Robeson sang about the Darkies, one of the most popular radio programs was Amos n Andy. The Left would destroy all of American culture from that era because it is deemed as "racist" by many today. The Left would burn most old books in the libraries, destroy all recordings of radio and TV shows. The Left in America today is like the destructive Communists during Mao's Cultural Revolution.
Restore the statue of Kate Smith and Gen. Robert E. Lee, celebrate America's heritage, and denounce the "hate-America" Left wing that dominates the academedia complex.. - Hugh Murray