Of Flutes, and Mermaids, and Skin Tones

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Modern conservatives aren't racist, of course they aren't.  And the fact that a vocal few became noticeably unhinged when a large black woman played James Madison's crystal flute - in public, no less - is far more indicative of their devotion to pure classical music than it is to some deep-seated bigotry.  Lizzo, the rapper and musician, rocked that flute like it has undoubtedly never been rocked before - or at least in the last two centuries - but it wasn't purely classical or else there would have been a harpsichord involved.  The anger regarding the performance had nothing to do with the black hands and lips that rendered those wonderful sounds.  Of course it didn't.

There is also some talk of today's conservatives being offended that Disney's new version of Ariel, the "Little Mermaid," is black, but surely that story is wrong also.  What decent person would get angry because Hollywood is finally beginning to produce a very few black characters in starring roles to validate the lives of black children - children whose parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were only exposed to white cultural icons as they were growing up?  There is no racism there, of course there isn't.

No one could get that angry because a black woman played a white man's flute, never mind that he has been dead for two hundred years, and surely no one would get distraught over the fact that a beloved children's character now has a darker complexion.  Any stories to the contrary must be fake news.

Christmas is just around the corner and we must also assume that American conservatives, who thrive on bragging about how much they love God, will not become upset when the occasional nativity scene depicts Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus as black - nor will they react badly when black Santa Clauses begin showing up in department stores and shopping malls.

Of course they won't.

Getting angry over something as basic as the color of a person's skin is petty, and demeaning, and racist - and that's just not who modern conservatives are.

Is it?