Are racist traditional songs "OK"? Of course not.

But does that mean they must be erased from history, never to be reprinted, spoken of, or sung again? I certainly hope not.

Well, we're tearing down all those historic statues of racists. What's the difference. Those statues were erected as part of a concerted campaign by the KKK and others to rewrite history, to depict the Confederacy and slavery as something benign or even heroic. They are boldfaced lies cast in bronze, and they must be removed from places of honor.

Racist songs shouldn't be in places of honor, either. They must be seen for what they are, not as something cute or quaint - but people need to know the reality of these songs, in a way that does not applaud them.

So, what do we do with them? Is bowdlerizing permitted? Well, much as I hate to admit it, some bowdlerizing is necessary. There were lots of good songs written in the past that just sound racist nowadays, and we just can't teach them to kids or play them on the radio the way they are.

On the Facebook page of the San Francisco Folk Music Club, a 30-yr-old friend of mine has been waging a campaign to suppress all songs with racist roots, especially songs that were sung in minstrel shows. That would wipe out almost all American music from the 19th century, because blackface performers were very common in U.S. music halls and vaudeville shows, and they sang everything, even non-racist songs, in blackface. On the top of my friend's list is "I've Been Working on the Railroad," which I think of as one of the most innocuous songs in the world. I suppose at least part of the song had been sung in so-called "negro dialect," but all traces of racism had been removed from that song by the time I learned it in the mid-1950s.

And then there are Stephen C. Foster songs, which are admittedly a problem. Foster wrote a lot of good songs, and I love to sing a number of them. Most of them really aren't objectionable, but I do like to sing "Old Black Joe," which I've sung since I was a kid. I sing it less often now, because I know many people might object - but I still do sing it when I'm with people I don't think will be offended. It's mostly a song about a man growing old and missing happier times. But I don't think it's awful to think that old black men had some good memories of their younger days and their loved ones from those days.

A book club I belong to, just finished reading Ghosts of Gold Mountain, a book about the Chinese laborers who built the Transcontinental Railroad across the Sierra in California. We were talking about anti-Chinese racism that still exists in California, and I pulled out my copy of Lingenfelter-Dwyer's Songs of the American West and read a few verses from a couple "John Chinaman" songs to illustrate this racism. I explained how people continually come to Mudcat and say how cute these racist songs are. The next day, a member of the group emailed me to say that it was inappropriate for me to read verses from those songs. even though I expressed disapproval of the songs and used them to illustrate racism, he still insisted that he was offended by my reading of those songs and was insulted that I had not considered the feelings of others when I read the songs. After an exchange of several emails that didn't bring any resolution to the disagreement, I ended by saying that although I had no intention to offend anyone, I acknowledged that he was offended. And if he chose to be offended by what I felt I had reason to day, so be it. I wonder if he'll ever speak to me again. People don't handle disagreement very well nowadays.

-Joe-