Gotham City Soul

Tonight CNN is investigating the history of the noose and its re-emergence at 8 pm Eastern Time. I'm of the opinion, at this point, that if all of this brings about legislation making the displaying of a noose anywhere outside of an educational context a felony, then maybe something useful can come out of all of this. For more information click here. Above: A Howard University student protests the omission of lynching from the agenda of a national conference on crime, 1934.

After a fortnight I’m back, not with warnings to noose hangers, or moral dilemmas, we’re not even staying in New York today. We are, in a figurative way, going to Germany. I’m in the mood for fairy tales . . . I grew up in an American home, but some of the customs that my mother, who is of German descent, brought with her to the United States became part of our childhood, especially at Christmas (more on that closer to the that holiday). One bit of the culture that I did not learn about until I was an adult, was Der Struwwelpeter. Loosely translated, it means Slovenly or Shockhaired Peter. He is a boy who doesn’t comb or cut his hair, has long dirty nails, and a dirty face. He’s not so popular. This filthy boy serves as the introduction and title of children’s tales written by Heinrich Hoffmann, a nineteenth century German psychiatrist. Tales is putting it lightly, these little Geschichte are brutal. One tells, for example, the story of a boy who won’t stop sucking his thumb. He’s wa...

I’ ve held forth about noose hanging in an earlier post about Jena. But now we’ ve got copycats on Long Island, and yesterday, Columbia University. I’ ve got two things to say about that, but before I say anything about racism being alive and well all over the United States, even in the so-called "enlightened" cosmopolitan areas like New York City, I’ ve got a message for the noose-hangers: I’m putting this out there to anyone who has hung a noose or is planning to hang a noose to try to intimidate black people: Why don’t you show your faces and admit that you’re racists? If you feel so strongly that black people should be degraded, subjugated, treated as second-class citizens, and stripped of their civil rights, why don’t you come say it to our faces. Why don’t you stand in front of the TV cameras waving your nooses? Your sneaking around only shows you for the cowards you are. You’re the same people who leave anonymous crud on message boards and blogs because then you do...

The beautiful gentleman you see above is living history. He was part of the only crew of African-American sailors to take a warship, the USS Mason , into combat during World War II. The Mason 's war record included its safe escort of convoys across the Atlantic and its exemplary service in the hunter-killer groups that finally destroyed the German U-Boats that had infested Allied waters. And for its outstanding bravery in guiding an important convoy to port in the thick of a huge storm. It would be nearly 50 years before the men would receive the commendations, (from Pres. Bill Clinton), that the convoy's commander had recommended. I know Mr. DuFau because the story of the Mason was on the cover of the second issue of American Legacy. I wasn't the editor then, but Mr. DuFau keeps in touch, dropping by the office from time to time, and attending some of our events with his wife. He is a truly sweet gentle man, who, last time he went fishing, and knowing that I love seafood, ...

Reparations have not been on my mind lately, but I'm blogging on the subject now because the day fast approaches (October 10 th ) when an artist named Damali Ayo launches her National Day of Panhandling for Reparations. Whatever the arguments for or against reparations—and I'm of the belief that throwing money at a problem doesn't necessarily solve it—the woman has taken the rancor out of the debate by turning it into performance art. Her Web site describes the one-day event: "People of all races across the United States will sit outside of businesses, libraries, museums, art galleries, or on busy street corners. We will collect reparations from white Americans for the enslavement of Africans and African Americans. This money will be immediately paid out to black passersby. Both parties will be offered a receipt." I watched a video of her one-woman effort, and I laughed—it's really comical in its own way. I have thought about the idea of reparatio...

In 1936 a 21-year old Orson Welles directed a stage version of Shakespeare's Macbeth. The cast was all-black, and the setting was Haiti, not Scotland. It was mounted with money from the Federal Theater Project, which had helped set up black theater projects throughout the country. He got paid $50 a week, much less than what he got in his job as radio announcer. I'm going to borrow from the author and history professor Joshua Zeitz, who wrote an article about the production: "The cast and crew of Harlem's Macbeth were a diverse assemblage of experienced and inexperienced characters whose convergence on the Lafayette Theatre only contributed to the considerable amount of rumor swirling around the production. For the troupe's choreographer, Welles chose a a Sierra Leonean percussion expert. Asodata Dafora Horton, who coordinated the drumming and chanting that accompanied the drama, performed by dancers from the west coast of Africa. Their leader was a genuine witch ...

So it's time to play catch-up. First we have a review for the opera Margaret Garner from Fred Allen, a colleague of mine who runs things at www.americanheritage.com. He is a trusted source when it comes to things musical, particularly classical music. Unfortunately, the news isn't good, and the reasons behind the critique sound, so I felt I should share it with you: I saw Margaret Garner when it opened, and I have to say I was disappointed. The problem was partly the dull music but partly the story’s being very problematic for opera, for two reasons. First, you’ve got a heroine who is very morally ambiguous in a way that an opera, or at least this one, can’t get into. Killing your child is very disturbing no matter how good the reason, and killing her while letting yourself live, for whatever reason, doesn’t help. Beloved is so great because it’s about the ghost of the child coming back to haunt the mother, right? This is about the mother being a purely noble victim for killin...