I guess the title may have gotten your attention. Undoubtedly we are seeing history written now that Obama has been elected the next president of the U.S.. But this is not really about the election.
Has anyone noticed that for at least the last twenty years we have been seeing history rewritten, falsely changed? It’s quite obvious in both film and documentary materials if you lived through those periods. But no one is talking about it; especially the media that normally love to expose a cover up. Not a word written! Not a raised eyebrow during a broadcast! Unfortunately these are likely to be considered the definitive record for future generations because of their ease of reference, but they are largely false with regard to segregation of the late twentieth Century in the Northern U.S. States.
I’ll give you two gleaming examples:
Dirty Dancing, with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. I think everyone has seen this film, it was a great movie. Although filmed in the Carolinas the setting was suppose to represent the Catskill Mountain Resorts of upstate New York in the early sixties. There was just one big inaccuracy – There were Blacks and Hispanics working at the resort. In reality there was not, this was not possible and just didn’t happen.
Conney Island, a file documentary often broadcast by Public Broadcasting Stations - It follows the history of the big amusement parks from conception through their final closing. Steeplechase Park is featured as one of the quintessential examples of these parks. Its closing is attributed to a loss of interest by the public and failing ticket sales. In fact, Steeplechase Park closed hard and fast in 1965 when laws were passed to over throw segregate.
The reason I have issue with this is that it paints a rosy picture that just wasn’t there. Not for Blacks and not for Whites and not for everyone in between. Unlike the south the north did not have White Only Signs and seating on a bus was not decided by race. But segregation was there none the same and maybe even in a more insidious way; No signs were necessary.
Now just to be clear, segregation worked both ways. There were beaches in Coney Island that were black only, no sign necessary. My lily-white butt had better keep off. Bedford-Sty, a neighborhood in Brooklyn – I didn’t belong there and I knew it (This was particularly inconvenient since I had a girl friend living there). But that’s the way it really was and still is to a lesser extent today. And before you jump up and down, yes I had it a lot better – I could go to the resorts and I did go to Steeplechase – but I couldn’t go with anyone I wanted to!
Will it change? Yes, eventually but only if we admit openly that it did and does exist. I think we must keep a light on it and not allow it to be hidden in the shadows of a rewritten history. Folks tend to be a lot more careful climbing up the mountain if they know how far they have to fall.
And for anyone reading this outside the U.S., forget the holier than thou position. I have two friends; He is Coptic Egyptian and she Buddhist Chinese. They wanted to get married and had a very rough time. You could have sold tickets to their wedding to watch the goings on. Talk about a Line In The Sand and the Great China Wall! These folks did not learn segregation and prejudice here in the states. They brought it with them from the other side of the world!
Hummm? I wonder how long it will be before Brad Pit plays Obama in the movies?
