Re: FW: RUN-DMC?

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

Responding to the message of <002801becd29$01d45b40$5c0df7a5 (at) bob>
from jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org:
>

Doesn't this current thread make us all at least a little more comfortable with 
owning up to Burt Bacharach as an MOT?  As the Hippocratic oath says, "Above 
all, do no harm!"

My next comments may seem to get us off the music track in a way that may 
disqualify me from being posted (I hope not!), but since I lead a multicultural 
orchestra that's mostly (and on many gigs, exclusively) African- and 
Jewish-American and we're considered a healing force by our audiences, I'd like 
to recommend a little perspective.  Reyzl and everyone else who's shared her 
basic viewpoint on this issue are absolutely right.  I'm sure living near Crown 
Heights intensifies one's feeling on this one.  Anti-Semitism in any form or 
genre is heinous and we need to be steadfast and swift in our response.  Those 
rap numbers, as few as there may be, are hideous and they've had a major impact 
on the culture.  Further, they spring from a larger milieu (Farrakahn et al) 
that's been responsible for some of the most hideously anti-Semitic rhetoric to 
come down the pike in recent years.  Let us not forget, however, that it's been 
played to the by the mass media since the bad and the ugly are what constitutes 
most of the news.  There was a piece in The Nation (not a paper I usually read 
or like) a few years ago that suggested that anti-Semitism was an ideal strategy
for Farrakahn to us to consolidate his leadership/visibility as an 
African-American lead who espouses segregation because attacking Jews, who 
constitute  such a disproportionate portion of the white support for civil 
rights and liberal causes in general, is an efficient way to start separating 
black from white.  Further, the Holocaust-laced rhetoric, especially that of 
Khalil Abdul Mohammed, was so hideous, that it was clearly intended to shock 
beyond the Jewish community.  (If it did the trick, I'm gratified to know that 
others would share in our mortification.  I'm never sure I believe this, much as
I want to.)

HOWEVER!  Let us never lose sight of the fact that the guys who torched three 
shuls in Sacramento, the asshole who shot three Orthodox Jews in my hometown 
Chicago (and killed Asian- and African-Americans in the burbs), the guy who 
murdered Alan Berg in Denver, et al, were not African-American, and I dare say 
they represent a greater threat although, when they confine themselves to 
hideous rhetoric short of actual violence, we hear little of them.  Let us also 
never forget that these are the same people (dare I say men) who dragged a 
disabled black man to a horrible death, chained to the back of a car.  As 
difficult as it can be at times (and I know firsthand), we need to find common 
ground with our sisters and brothers of color with whom we share noble common 
cause.  I do this in my band.  I'm not naive about the limits of our impact or 
the relative ease of this sort of collaboration, but it's one candle.

I think one of the reasons the rap thing hurts so much (and I include myself 
among the very hurt) is that so many of us Jews so much want the 
African-/Jewish-American alliance that produced so much glorious moral rectitude
and accomplished so much when so many of us were in our formative years.  It may
be harder now, but deep in my heart I still believe it's possible to overcome.



  
> I'm happy to have Roni as a member of the list so that I can hear
> about thousands of rap songs without having to listen to them myself.
> Actually, I would say that of any genre of music.  Who has the time?
> 
> I'm also happy to hear from Roni that rap has no greater an incidence
> of anti-Semitic lyrics than other types of music.  (And I would
> imagine far less than White Power music.)  I think that he is probably
> right.  I don't believe that the ADL has cited many (any?) other than
> the ones that he identified.
> 
> Unfortunately, anti-Semitism does appear in other types of music as
> well.  Including mainstream popular music.  (Remember the Michael
> Jackson episode?)  And classical music.
> 
> In fact, some day I may offer a program on anti-Semitism in music. (I
> believe that we discussed this issue before with some even questioning
> lyrics of Kinky Friedman and Mel Brooks.)  My only reluctance in
> presenting such a program would be giving "air time" to such hateful
> rhetoric.  But, perhaps the light of day is a great disinfectant.  And
> it is better to be en garde.
> 
> Bob (the former fencer)
> 
> 
> 
> .


Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American Studies
University of Minnesota
2106 4th St. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 612 626-2200 (fax)

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