And it's 7 years later, I'm still here, and boy how things have changed.
At 61, I'm old enough to know real racism, but not old enough to experience what my parents did. In the old days, white performers would put on black face to demean our people - and that was truly hurtful to see.
By the late 70s or so, the old generation died out and folks pretty much stopped getting upset over stupid things like someone wearing "blackface". Movies and TV shows, once afraid to even mention race at all, suddenly found humor in our cultural differences. Watch the old All In The Family or The Jeffersons or Sanford and Son. We got over our petty differences.
In The Jazz Singer, Jess didn't wear the overly exaggerated and stereotypical "blackface" of the early 20th century. He didn't smack his lips and say "Lordy Lordy!" or run from ghosts. He simply disguised himself as one of his friends to sit in with their group, and since it was a black group, used shoe polish or something else to darken his complexion. Don't see the difference? That's the problem today.
Now suddenly, we're all offended if someone dresses up in costume as their favorite black entertainer or athlete.
Eddie Murphy played several white characters over his career. Were whites offended? I don't think so, but he didn't do it to intentionally demean or insult whites. He did it for humor. Was Neil Diamond's black character meant to demean or insult blacks? Not to me.
Where has America gotten so screwed up where we're now expected to pitch a fit over a 20 year old picture someone took, or perhaps this very movie? Everything must wound us deeply. We all must take offense at everything.
Sad.
It won't surprise me if the scene with Neil Diamond in black makeup gets edited out of any future TV screenings.
America is dying folks, and it's sad to watch.
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[deleted]
5 years ago
Thank you. That was clear, concise and very well said. It seems that everyone now is just looking for something to get upset about.
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