Race relations: we've at least come a little way in 100 years

I just happened to find again a booklet printed 96 years ago for owners of Edison phonographs. It's called 'The New Phonogram', was published by The National Phonograph Co., and offers a small slice of US culture as people experienced it in November 1907.

The publishers offered a number of new records in each issue. Here are 2 "irresistably funny rag-time coon songs" from this one (the language is theirs):

9684 "If I'm Goin' to Die, I'm Goin' to Have Some Fun" by Arthur Collins {accompanying the description is a nice little silhouette of what is obviously meant to be 2 Black men, one sick in bed and the other a doctor}
This diverting coon song, rendered with all of Arthur Collins' customary humor, relates the illness and recovery of Jim Jackson. Jim caught a cold and instead of taking hot gin fizzes, as his anxious friends advised, persisted in going out to shoot dice. The night was cold as ice and three weeks later James looked feebly at his physician and was told he was going to die. This sad news acted as a tonic to the sick man, for he sat straight up in bed and remarked: The doctor says my days are done, so if I'm goin' to die, I'm goin' to have some fun. How he acted on this and recovered is told in the song. Orchestra accompaniment. Music and words, Geo. M. Cohan.

9695 "A coon courtship" Ado Jones and Len Spencer {again accompanied by an 'amusing' silhouette illustration}
A really funny vaudeville sketch by two of the most popular artists before the Phonographic public, in which Miss Jones introduces the coon song "You've Got to Love me a Lot". Mose is supposed to be "a midget niggah" making love to a two hundred pound beauty who is inclined to doubt his kissing capacity. Susie is a connoisseur at the osculatory game and her creed is contained in the song she sings. Orchestra accompaniment. Music of coon song by John Lowitz.

At least we've progressed beyond that kind of thing!

From his new book, A Call To Service:

"We certainly cannot celebrate our progress in eliminating overt racism and other forms of discrimination if we have simply replaced poisonous laws and poisonous attitudes with a poisonous environment." - Kerry on environmental racism.

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And I'm white. But the good thing about race relations today is I can have a black friend and I won't get shot or potentially assaulted because of it. That I am glad for.

*

In my experience. There is one little victory for me in that respect. I'll tell you why I think so.

I recently had a discussion with a very religious white friend of mine who said he had a problem with whites and blacks dating. I asked him what was really wrong with it. He had nothing to say aginst it at that point after he really thought about it. His response was "I don't know".

The only difference between us is skin pigmentation anyway. Taken to its logical conclusion, we would also be disciminating against hair color. Say like, all blondes are savages. That view is ludicrous and so is discrimination against skin color.

he was just too embarrassed to tell you. Interracial dating symbolizes genetic annihilation of the white "race" which he fears. It's a natural fear and I think whites need to discuss it.

Whites know that whites are a minority on the planet. White birth rates are not keeping up with non-white birth rates. When a white marries a non-white, the result is more non-whites. If there was true integration, whites might melt into the gene pool.

Some whites are not anxious about this, but a lot of whites are. It is believed by some that the only way to stem the tide is to keep control of the non-white population, and so, the killing of non-whites on the planet on a daily basis is not a problem for some whites. It's a race between bullets and sperm.

I always believed that we all were becoming what we were in the begining, everyone being a little brown, so to speak. And he probably does fear this based on his own interpretation of the bible.

The white birth rate is not keeping up with the non-white because of thier economic advantage. Women seldom marry down on the social scale. This may seem sexist to some but it is true.

LOL.. maybe I should have used that in my discussion with him but it is one fact that will probably not change.

congratulations america.

I'm 49, gay and my closest friend is a 49 year old black straight professional male. We see each other weekly and talk nearly daily. We go out to lunch, we have dinner, and cookouts (he's a master on the grill). We drink beer, indulge in other adult vices, and tell jokes. His partner is a lovely black lady with a dry wit and a taste for indulgence. My partner is a 54 year old white high school teacher who also has a dry wit. We have a blast.

I'm sorry you guys live in the America you do. I hope mine never becomes like it.

Plus, its Friday night. If you're home, what else do you have to do?

:kick:

but this is DU, so anything is posssible...

The USA is defined by 'race' relations. Black people were the rebar in the USA's metaphorical foundation.