Stop singing these racist minstrel songs to your children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t get all frothed up about songs that were sanitized 100 years ago and have been loved by many generations of children since then. If they hadn’t been sanitized, sure.

They haven’t been sanitized. The racist imagery is still there.

About the same as sexual imagery is still there in Little Red Riding Hood? Gory death in Ring around the Rosie?

Again, can’t get worked up about it. There is nothing racist or sexual about these songs and stories that little kids could possibly pick up on.

Darlin Clementine, though- there’s an explicit tale of child neglect.

They don’t pick up that the songs are racist or sexist, but the messages are inculcated anyway.

That would be a contradiction, hon.

[Anonymous]

All rock, rap, jazz, blues, etc. stems from black minstrel music.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All rock, rap, jazz, blues, etc. stems from black minstrel music.

And? What’s your point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If OP is white, boy I'd be ticked off if I were black, for focusing on something so stupid and minute.

If OP is black, again, you're going to turn people away from the important stuff by picking apart something 99% of any color people have no idea is even a thing.

+1,

+ who the hell is singing these songs, anyway? I had to look them all up and only recognized a couple.

I was also wondering who sings these songs regularly. “I’ve Benen Working on the Railroad” and the like aren’t songs I think of, let alone sing frequently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m 44 and learned today that Shoo Fly was a racist song. I’m shocked. I thought it was about being loved. “I belong to somebody”

Take it away if it really offends you but it didn’t make me a racist.

I just Googled it and I'm assuming you never heard ALL the lyrics or you'd be an idiot to not see how it's racist. That said, I didn't know it was a racist song either (the only words I knew were Shoo fly, don't bother me).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am black and yes, white women pointing out all these ridiculous songs and shows that no one in the black community cares about does take away from the issues that we are fighting so hard to change! All your doing is trying to diminish our message and make more people upset. Please be silent and listen.
White women have always been the ones telling me what we should be offended by. I’ve had friends text me “wow I didn’t know this was racist” and it’s great you are educating yourself but please stop telling us what we should find offensive.

I don't think someone saying they didn't realize something was racist means you shouldn't be offended by it. I think it means they didn't see it as racist but if you point out that it is, that's going to be their reaction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If OP is white, boy I'd be ticked off if I were black, for focusing on something so stupid and minute.

If OP is black, again, you're going to turn people away from the important stuff by picking apart something 99% of any color people have no idea is even a thing.

+1,

+ who the hell is singing these songs, anyway? I had to look them all up and only recognized a couple.

I was also wondering who sings these songs regularly. “I’ve Benen Working on the Railroad” and the like aren’t songs I think of, let alone sing frequently.

Same here. Maybe my kids heard them at school but I've always found kids' songs to be sort of annoying so at home we listen to real songs and sing that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If OP is white, boy I'd be ticked off if I were black, for focusing on something so stupid and minute.

If OP is black, again, you're going to turn people away from the important stuff by picking apart something 99% of any color people have no idea is even a thing.

+1,

+ who the hell is singing these songs, anyway? I had to look them all up and only recognized a couple.

I was also wondering who sings these songs regularly. “I’ve Benen Working on the Railroad” and the like aren’t songs I think of, let alone sing frequently.

Same here. Maybe my kids heard them at school but I've always found kids' songs to be sort of annoying so at home we listen to real songs and sing that.

We sing shoo fly (which I also thought was about a sweetheart - the lyrics I know are “‘cuz I belong to somebody” and “I feel like the morning star”) when we’re outside and flys are bothering us.

DD has a book called Stagecoach Sal that has a lot of old songs in it. We sing Polly Wolly doodle because it gets stuck in our heads when we read that book.

I work in the railroad industry. Working on the railroad all the livelong day is kinda what I do.

[Anonymous]

While I've certainly heard these songs and am familiar with them, they're not anything I've ever sung to my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am black and yes, white women pointing out all these ridiculous songs and shows that no one in the black community cares about does take away from the issues that we are fighting so hard to change! All your doing is trying to diminish our message and make more people upset. Please be silent and listen.
White women have always been the ones telling me what we should be offended by. I’ve had friends text me “wow I didn’t know this was racist” and it’s great you are educating yourself but please stop telling us what we should find offensive.

I don't think someone saying they didn't realize something was racist means you shouldn't be offended by it. I think it means they didn't see it as racist but if you point out that it is, that's going to be their reaction.

I take more issue with this “be silent and listen” attitude. Isn’t that how we got here in the first place?? By telling women and minorities to “be silent”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a list of some songs that shouldn’t be included in preschool and elementary education music class anymore. As a young children’s music educator, I appreciated this article and have not included these for a long time. Shoo fly would also be one to stay away from.

https://gen.medium.com/amp/p/154b8d8db12a

I view this like those who oppose abortion for themselves and others. If you dont want to teach these songs fine. But you cross the line when you try to intimidate others to do what you would do.

If you are against abortion you dont have one. Stop telling others what to do. Erasing the songs wont change the history. Kind of like if you made a civil rights movie or slavery and changed the history to make it Politically correct.

Is that what you want?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a list of some songs that shouldn’t be included in preschool and elementary education music class anymore. As a young children’s music educator, I appreciated this article and have not included these for a long time. Shoo fly would also be one to stay away from.

https://gen.medium.com/amp/p/154b8d8db12a

I view this like those who oppose abortion for themselves and others. If you dont want to teach these songs fine. But you cross the line when you try to intimidate others to do what you would do.

If you are against abortion you dont have one. Stop telling others what to do. Erasing the songs wont change the history. Kind of like if you made a civil rights movie or slavery and changed the history to make it Politically correct.

Is that what you want?

DP. That doesn't really make sense since the lyrics have already been changed to make them "Politically correct" or not offensively racist.

Are you advocating going back to the old lyrics for these songs?

[Anonymous]

I just had this in my email this morning, if anyone's middle-high schoolers are interested in exploring the roots of these songs more in depth this summer (I'm tempted to sign DD up so I can sit in too!):

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/programs-and-events/online-history-school/american-history-through-song-revolution-depression

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have sung Oh Susanna and Jimmy Crack Corn with my children too but will reexamine them.

I've also sung Jimmy Crack Corn, and I don't care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a list of some songs that shouldn’t be included in preschool and elementary education music class anymore. As a young children’s music educator, I appreciated this article and have not included these for a long time. Shoo fly would also be one to stay away from.

https://gen.medium.com/amp/p/154b8d8db12a

I view this like those who oppose abortion for themselves and others. If you dont want to teach these songs fine. But you cross the line when you try to intimidate others to do what you would do.

If you are against abortion you dont have one. Stop telling others what to do. Erasing the songs wont change the history. Kind of like if you made a civil rights movie or slavery and changed the history to make it Politically correct.

Is that what you want?

DP. That doesn't really make sense since the lyrics have already been changed to make them "Politically correct" or not offensively racist.

Are you advocating going back to the old lyrics for these songs?

Of course NOT. Way to misunderstand.