[ Home ] [ About DV ] [ Blog ] [ ]  [ ]

GORDON GARNOS

(5/1/2007)

Because of political correctness we have lost a lot of Americana

AT ISSUE: Our nation's young people will never have the opportunity to know a significant part of our nation's folklore because of the push for political correctness. Political correctness may be important, but is it more important than loosing sight of the folklore and the many old songs engendered by the black people down through the history of our nation? A recent trip down south brought much of this folklore, with its music, to mind. Is exchanging this for political correctness what most of us really want?

DRIVING DOWN SOUTH to visit our son was uneventful. That is until we crossed the Swanee River. I couldn't help but sing a few bars as that was a solo of mine years ago at the annual charity variety show here in Watertown, called Karing Kapers. Ever since then, a lady, a fellow cast member, has called me "Swanee," no matter where she might see me, even over the din of one of our super markets. It doesn't make any difference if I am in the meat department and she is picking up a six-pack of Coke at the other end of the store, that unmistakable "Swanee" zings right over the frozen foods department.

Back to singing "a few bars." Because of that imprint she has put on me, my wife brought to a quick end my brief concert as we crossed that river. The song, along with such songs as "Mammy" made famous by such performers as black-faced Al Jolson and the lost minstrel shows have faded from the American scene because they fell into the pit of so-called being racist.

I LOVE THOSE old tunes. The movie, "The Al Jolson Story," starring Larry Parks, will always be one of my favorites. I probably sang them sometime back in my high school days. But I guess I missed the racist implications of the lyrics. I thought they were just songs about a simpler life faded by time. And I never learned the other verses to "Old Folks at Home," not that it mattered. I would get to the chorus line about all the world being sad and dreary and how my heart was all weary, not ever thinking I was slamming a group of people or a way of life.

And what about that Camptown Race Track? It was "five miles long,  Doo dah, oh, doo dah day. Born to run all night, born to run all day. Bet my money on a bob-tail nag. Somebody be on the bay." I would also be remiss if I didn't mention "Dixie," where old times are surely not forgotten or the life and times of "Old Black Joe." In just mentioning these songs, I bet there will be a few oldsters who will start humming these tunes.

Sadly, such stories about Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer have also fallen into disfavor by many because of their so-called racist overtones. Reading those stories was a must in my grade school days. Sailing down the river on a raft seemed like a most fantastic way to spend a skipped day of school.

CRUISING DOWN the river for me had to wait 60 years or so when a buddy and I took my pontoon down the Missouri River a few years ago to Kansas City. We have also traveled the upper Mississippi River, but didn't get down to the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn territory. But I would like to do it sometime. I guess the adventure, Huck's and Tom's caves and all the other Mark Twain lore is still part of that kid in me.

Speaking of American folklore, I'll bet there isn't one high school kid in a hundred who could tell us about "Mister Interlocutor and Mister Bones." How sad it is that they will never be able to see a minstrel show. Those, too, became extinct because of the racism bit. If only we could resurrect a minstrel show complete with all the political correctness required by those demanding it.

Mister Interlocutor was the master of ceremonies in a minstrel show. He was usually center stage in front of the chorus and who engaged in banter with the end men. They would tell jokes on each other between songs by the chorus. One or the other, or both of the end men were "Mister Bones." The end man on one end of the chorus was also known as "Tambo," because he held a tambourine and I forget what the other man was. Some minstrel shows had a full cast of African Americans, while others were white people with black makeup, again, as many believe, smacked of racism.

THE SHOWS AND MANY of the songs, I'm sure, showed America's black people in a poor light. Still, with the inception of political correctness we lost a lot of that bit of Americana. We, here in South Dakota, have our own political correctness and racist issues, but must parts of our nation's history and its culture be surrendered in the name of this so-called political correctness?....

Gordon Garnos was long-time editor of the Watertown Public Opinion and recently retired after 39 years with that newspaper.  Garnos, a lifelong resident of South Dakota except for his military service in the U.S. Air Force, was born and raised in Presho.