On Saturday, April 20, 2019, The Philadelphia Flyers covered their statue of Kate Smith. ? The following day, they removed it. (Photo by USA Today)
On Armistice Day (Now Veteran’s Day), November 11, 1938, Kate Smith inspired America. ? That day, she sang Irving Berlin?s ?God Bless America? for the first time on national radio.
It was a very dark and depressing time in America.?? After a brief recovery in 1933, the American economy fell into a what was then called ?The Second Depression? or ?The Roosevelt Depression? while the rest of the world had long recovered.?? It was exactly 20 years after the day Americans thought they had brought permanent peace to the world by defeating the German Kaiser in World War I.?? Yet Germany?s new leader, Adolf Hitler was even more aggressive than the old Kaiser. His new army occupied neighboring Austria, much of Czechoslovakia and now threatened France and Poland. Just days before, Hitler?s stormtroopers viciously attacked thousands of Jews in Germany. ? In just a few days, 200 synagogues were burned, 7,500 Jewish owned shops were looted, and 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps.? Mussolini?s Italy had invaded Ethiopia. Japanese soldiers had murdered more than a million of men, women, and children in the Chinese city of Nanking alone. In Communist Russia, millions were rounded up and sent to camps where they disappeared. The world seemed helpless to stop them. America was weak, divided, broke, and afraid.
It was then that 31 year old Kate Smith sang this song that became the prayer that inspired and help unite Americans for the first time in many years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zF7a0wB-Lg
Some 31 years later, Kate Smith was rediscovered in Philadelphia. In 1969, the Flyers hockey team began playing her iconic recording of ?God Bless America? at the beginning of each game.?? During those years, the Flyers changed from a lackluster team to champions who won the Stanley Cup championship in 1974. As the Flyers became winners, Philadelphia fans stood up and enthusiastically sang along whenever Kate Smith?s ?God Bless America? was played.
Kate Smith died in 1986 at age 79.?? The following year, the Philadelphia Flyers erected a statue of her outside their Spectrum Arena.?? When the Spectrum was demolished, they moved it to the parking lot of its Xfinity Live! Arena.
After the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the New York Yankees baseball team began playing Kate Smith?s ?God Bless America? during the 7th Inning Stretch of every home game at Yankee Stadium.
Last Friday, April 19, the New York Yankees suddenly announced that they ?suspended the use of Kate Smith’s recording of ?God Bless America? while they ?investigate an allegation of racism against the late singer?.
The following day, Saturday, April 20, the Flyers covered the statue of Kate Smith with what looked like a giant burka with bungee cords.?? Today, Sunday, April 21, the statue was removed.
Any ?allegation of racism? against Kate Smith is an outrage and an insult to every American.? Kate Smith recorded thousands of songs during her career.?? The “allegation of racism” is based on two of them recorded in 1931 and 1933 when Kate was 24 and 26 years old.
The 1931 song was ?That?s Why Darkies Were Born?. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrPG9Z161F8
If our public schools and colleges still taught real American history, it would be obvious to everyone that this song was not racism, but an attack on racism.?? It was a powerful indictment of the oppression of blacks in the South, then controlled by white Democrats.
Today?s high schools and colleges no longer teach ?The Great Migration?.?? This was when millions of blacks escaped racism in the South to build safe, prosperous and vibrant communities in the north. This included the Northside and Westside of Atlantic City, and Harlem in New York.
During this time, whites in those areas embraced the music, humor, and culture of those newly arrived blacks just as they incorporated those of Jewish, Irish, and Italian immigrants into our American culture.
?That?s Why Darkies Were Born? delivers a universal message familiar to Jews, Christians, Irish Italians and almost every immigrant to America.?? Its introduction says that ?the colored man? was singled out for oppression. The song?s lyrics then explain that this suffering taught him to ?sing? and ?fight the Devil? to overcome injustice and redeem others.?? Isn?t that the theme of the Passion of Christ that millions of Christians remembered this Easter Weekend?
Someone had to pick the cotton,
Someone had to pick the corn,
Someone had to slave and be able to sing,
That’s why darkies were born;
Someone had to laugh at trouble,
Though he was tired and worn,
Had to be contented with any old thing,
That’s why darkies were born;
Sing, sing, sing when you’re weary and
Sing when you’re blue,
Sing, sing, that’s what you taught
All the white folks to do;
Someone had to fight the Devil,
Shout about Gabriel’s Horn,
Someone had to stoke the train
That would bring God’s children to green pastures,
That’s why darkies were born.
That song was popular with both black and white audiences, and was a civil rights anthem for years.?? It was performed by many well-known black entertainers, including civil rights (and Communist) celebrity Paul Robeson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vG-GjRNHAw
By the way, although ?darky? is now a slur, at the time, it was just the opposite.? As with ?people of color?, it was used with pride and often with humor as an alternative to the ?N? word or anything close to it. ? It was especially popular with black soldiers during the Civil War.? The band of the black 54th Massachusetts Regiment (described in the movie ?Glory?) marched in parades to the tune of ?Kingdom Coming/Year of Jubilo? which used that word. ? That song was so offensive to southern white that it was usually whistled instead of sung. ? It was a song of ?darkies? laughing when “Lincoln gunboats” and “Yankee soldiers” made ?the master run away?! (?We ain?t whistling ?Dixie?!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WeJYLiay6w
Kate Smith also sang? ?Pickaninny Heaven?.?? Today, Pickaninny is offensive. However, in the 1930?s it was not.? It was slang that had? been used by blacks and whites for hundreds years. It probably came from the Caribbean as a shortened version of the Spanish/Portuguese words for small child, ?pequeno nino?.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq0HH9d_lHk
At the time, New York City was a melting pot and having mainstream entertainers bring the slang, humor, and culture of an ethnic group into their performance was often a sign of acceptance and inclusion.
Very few Irish at the time were offended by ?Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z71pGDq9FbY
Very few Greeks at the time were offended by ?Yes We Have No Bananas?. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDd8shcLvHI
Very few Jews at the time were offended by ?Second Hand Rose?. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZhBJwy3AOA
An honest and complete history of America would teach that while American blacks faced discrimination, insults and ridicule from time to time in the North, so did almost every other group of newcomers.?? Very few people came to America with privilege.
The greatness of America was that it offered the opportunity to overcome discrimination, insults, and ridicule through talent, education, and work.
It is a tragedy that this is no longer taught in our public schools, colleges, or entertainment industry.
Is it because Democrats run those places? ?? Is it because the Democratic Party wants to divide Americans into groups who feel they are victims, and need a government run by Democrats to protect them?
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“An honest and complete history of America would teach that while American blacks faced discrimination, insults and ridicule from time to time in the North, so did almost every other group of newcomers.”
No, and honest and complete history of America would teach that the only group who have faced as much oppression and violence than black people are Native Americans. Your false equivalencies are pretty fucking gross.
Sorry you believe the Fake History taught by the “progressives” who have run our public schools, colleges and Hollywood for past 50 years. Fortunately Atlantic City has honest black historians who tell through their own research and family histories how blacks achieved what every other group of newcomers achieved when they go out of the racist white Democrat South during the “Great Migration” of 1880-1930. Why not visit Hunter’s African American Heritage Museum of Southern NJ or read Raheem’s “Growing Up in the Other Atlantic City”? Here’s how Alma and Clifton Washington described Atlantic City when they arrived in 1925: “When we reached the boardwalk promenade, we were astonished to find throngs of people, young and old, Coloreds and Whites, families, singles and couples, all immersed in various types of entertainment. . . Atlantic City. . . held the promise of long-term work as waiters, waitresses, cooks, porters, doormen, bellhops, busboys, chambermaids and more, and there was room for advancement in every field, especially if you were educated. Ruby Lee and Bobby had told us of colored people already buying houses, cars and modern appliances, and owning their own businesses too, right there on the Northside. . . ” Seth Grossman for LibertyAndProsperity.com
Compared to some of our world leaders today who utilize racial, ethnic and religious bigotry in their political toolkits, judging her by songs that were popular in another era is ridiculous. As per Wiki : “Smith called for racial tolerance in 1945 in an address on CBS Radio, saying, “Race hatreds, social prejudices, religious bigotry, they are the diseases that eat away the fibers of peace.” She went on to say that it is up to us to tolerate one another in order to achieve peace.”
So incredibly insightful. It must be so difficult for those who have been brainwashed and continue to be unconsciously oppressed by the Democrats, to stop and think for a moment that what you have so eloquently written could be true. That the Democrats, who count on minority votes to stay in office, continue to blindly oppress the very groups that vote for them by offering ?social services? like welfare and ?healthcare for all?, when in reality they are nothing more than insurance policies that prevent those who accept these meager rations from rising up on their own and becoming strong and proud through hard work and determination. Sure sounds a lot like a new twist on an old story to me. I just wish more of those who are truly being oppressed by the Democratic Party would wake up to what is REALLY going on…and has been for a VERY long time!
I’ve been sitting here steaming over the Yankees and Flyers treating Kate Smith as a racist
while the Yankees never had a black man on there team until Elston Howard.He was brought up as a catcher and knew he would not play because Yogi Berra was their catcher.
Bwaaahaha.. this is a fake report of Coon Songs, Black Face and Minstrel Shows.. another great attempt by the very white right to defend this crap.. Paul Robeson sang a version that said “maybe” that’s why Darkies were born.. he was an activist against this racist song..Darkies was and has never been a term of endearment by white America.. this is FAKE NEWS at best
Jay Black has a lot to learn. There was nothing fake about the “Harlem Renaissance”. A good place to start is https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/educate/harlem.html. The Harlem Renaissance started with national recognition of the heroism of the 369th Harlem Hellfighters in World War One, and their regimental band led by James Reese Europe. Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake transformed the old Black Face Minstrel Shows into critically acclaimed and commercially successful art starting with their 1921 blockbuster musical “Shuffle Along”. That show produced “I’m Just Wild About Harry” and included Ethel Waters, Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson. Kate Smith used her 1930’s radio show to bring the talent of those writers, composers, and performers to a national audience. Unfortunately, this true history does not advance the agenda of today’s “progressive” Democrats, and so it is no longer taught in public schools, colleges, or shown in today’s Hollywood/TV pop culture. Seth Grossman
No, what is offensive is your spewing a false narrative. Evidence……
Jay Black won’t look it up. It doesn’t fit his narrative. Answer this left.
If Kate Smith has to come down why are none of the Stars on the Hollywood walk of fame “coming down” . That era of 1915-1950 was racist as hell. Actors , directors, producers. I’m waiting Hollywood…………