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Hairspray: Gays and Race »

Posted by: david_nwpa 1 year, 1 month ago

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When I was in junior high I used to sit at the "black" lunch table in the cafeteria, much to the shock (and occasional ridicule) of my white schoolmates. The seating was not officially segregated, but with rare exceptions African-Americans sat together, and I sat with them.

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david_nwpa1 year, 1 month ago

This is an excellent piece to which I can relate. I remember in high school as a senior, I frequently skipped lunch to avoid being in the cafeteria. I would cling to the AV room or the library. I would avoid joining them because I just could not face the daily teasing. In some sense, it made me stronger, and better versed in Tschaikovsky music, which I enjoyed while my classmates ate.
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  dandt16121 year, 1 month ago
  
  Thank You david for this story. It brought back some old hurtful memories and I believe the teasing and name calling and being outcasted did make me a stronger person as well. EVERYBODY wants to be treated the same no matter who you are.
  "Parade of Stupid marches on" Wow that's a powerful statement indeed.
  Equal rights for everyone is a must!!
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Poulenc1 year, 1 month ago

Yes, good piece. Hairspray may be "message-lite," but it does seem to connect people to the "ugly" of its era, then provide a better way that everyone can, er...dance to.
Being an outsider is indeed tough, but such a position is ideal for providing valuable perspective: one probably sees the world a little bit more clearly than those who fit into it so easily.
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jordan111 year, 1 month ago

"Well, love is a gift," Mabelle responds. "A lot of people don't remember that. So, you two better brace yourselves for a whole lotta ugly comin' at you from a never-ending parade of stupid.">>>>>>
Great statement. I envy the closeness of minority groups. The prejudice perpetrated on them actually gives them a gift, in a closer bond & friends wherever they go. How ironic.
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  crespi1 year, 1 month ago
  
  Good article d-wpa, about humanity breaking through societally enforced dysfuntional social boundries.
  Uh, j11, I admire your positivity but I think most people that have received "STAY WITH YOUR OWN KIND!" might not see it as any sort of gift...
  
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    jordan111 year, 1 month ago
    
    OK. I think you missed my point, but no biggie.
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      crespi1 year, 1 month ago
      
      I'm sorry.
      What was it?
      
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TOtheMOON1 year, 1 month ago

Wonderful article. david. Thanks for sharing it.
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marlenebomer1 year, 1 month ago

I've been a student of history all my life, although I actually *hated* history in high school, cause the teachers made so bloody boring!
In the studies I've made, the arguments made by the bigots in the 60's against desegregation and interracial marriage are EXACTLY the same they're making against GLBT equal rights!
My favorite quote is by Mel Boozer, who was the first black man to be nominated for vice-president at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.
During his acceptance speech he said: "I've been called a ni**er and I've been called a fa**ot, and I can tell you the difference in one word: none!"
Another area where race and sexuality crossed is in the person who taught MLK, Jr. the Gandian philosophy of non-violent confrontation.
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  marlenebomer1 year, 1 month ago
  
  Bayard Rustin was a former Communist and out gay man who became one of J. Edgar Hoover's targets due to those facts and he was campaigning for the elimination of Jim Crow.
  He was taught the Gandian philosophy from Ghandi himself and used those tactics independently before meeting up with King and teaching him the philosophy.
  When the frightened sheep surrounding King learned of Rustin's gayness, they forced him out, fearing they'd be labelled gay by association.
  When it came to organize the 1963 March on Washington, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference went to A. Philip Randolph and asked him to organize it and he told the SCLC if they wanted the march to be successful he needed Rustin or he'd quit.
  So if you see any of these conservative black preachers speaking against the GLBT community, gently remind these bigots that if it wasn't for a gay black man, they wouldn't be where they are today!!!!
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    1-2-Oscar1 year, 1 month ago
    
    That's a nice story, Marlene, even if it isn't exactly true. Bayard Rustin was towering figure in the Civil Rights Movement, and his orgnizational skills were essential to the success of the March on Washington in 1963, but he was definitely NOT the one who introduced King to the principles and tactics of Gandhian nonviolence.
    King earned his doctorate at Boston University, and his writings while there, including his dissertation, show that he was familiar with Gandhian nonviolence years before he ever met Bayard Rustin. Further, we know that nonviolence was a tactic espoused by both Vernon Johns, who preceded King as pastor at Dexter Avenue, and C. K. Steele of Tallahassee, FL, one of the founding fathers of the SCLC (his son, Charles K. Steele, Jr. is the current president). King's association with Johns and Steele predates his meeting Rustin, and is detailed by Taylor Branch in his Pulitzer-prize winning, "Parting the Waters." (cont)
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      1-2-Oscar1 year, 1 month ago
      
      In his own book, "Bus Ride to Justice," Fred Gray, who was the lawyer for all the participants in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, details how nonviolence was adopted by the movement--and it was a tactic that had been decided upon by Gray, Jo Anne Robinson, and the ladies of the Montgomery Improvement Association long before they invited King to become their spokesman.
      Rosa Parks, long an activist in both the MIA and the NAACP, was CHOSEN to be the one who challenged the segregated bus system. She was sent to Highlander School on Monteagle, TN for instruction in passive resistance BEFORE the refusal to comply with segregated seating ordinances. After King joined the movement, HE WAS ALSO SCHOOLED IN NONVIOLENCE AT HIGHLANDER.
      I do not wish to minimize the role that Bayard Rustin played. He also took an active role at Highlander, and sometimes taight sessions there. This may account for someone later crediting him with "teaching King Gandhian principles." (cont)
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        1-2-Oscar1 year, 1 month ago
        
        But the full story is much more complicated, just as the relationships among these people were complex. I personally had the privilege of working with Bayard Rustin briefly in 1967. I think he was a great man. But many people within the movement were leery of being too closely associated with him, not because he was homosexual, but because he was reputed to be an active member of the Communist Party. This not only brought unnecessary surveillance from the FBI, but also hindered fund-raising. Some people, and I should point to Harry Belafonte here, ignored Rustin's Communist ties, but many more, including King, kept him at arms' length to avoid being "tainted" by those associations.
        Highlander School at Monteagle was closed up by the FBI about 1961, but it survives in skeletal form at Newmarket, TN, where Guy and Candy Carawan keep the spirit alive, but have no money to continue the activism. Call them, and read the books by Gray and Branch. It's worth your time.
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        david_nwpa1 year, 1 month ago
        
        I would like to add as a follow up to your comments on Bayard Rustin simply noting what he said in 1987: "The barometer of where one is on human rights questions is no longer the black community, it's the gay community. Because it is the community which is most easily mistreated."
        Furthermore, I think Marlene should not be completely discredited as noted here...
        "Rustin took leave from the War Resisters League in 1956 to advise Martin Luther King Jr., on Gandhian tactics as King organized the public transportation boycott in Montgomery, Alabama known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott."
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayard_Rustin
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        1-2-Oscar1 year, 1 month ago
        
        As a resource, Wikipedia is nearly useless. It is unfortunate that some people choose to rely on it. I understand that the two books that I cited above are not available at the click of a mouse, but sometimes a bit more effort is needed to obtain information which is both complete and accurate.
        The confrontation over bus seating was planned and executed without the participation of Martin Luther King, Jr. The adoption of Gandhian tactics also preceded King's involvement. There are still enough people around who were a part of it to confirm that. King was needed for two reasons--first, he was a man, and the ladies of the MIA were certain that they needed a male figure to be the public face of the protest; second, King was educated and articulate, to a degree that few people involved were, and he would give them a better chance to get their story to the national media.
        You don't have to believe me. Contact Dr. Charles Payne at Duke for confirmation.
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        david_nwpa1 year, 1 month ago
        
        I agree about Wiki, except that most of the first hand sources are ones you mention. As for contacting a prof at Duke, no bother.
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        1-2-Oscar1 year, 1 month ago
        
        Charles Payne is not simply a "prof at Duke," he was an activist during the time when that was a very dangerous thing to be. He is now a trained academician, but he writes both from research and personal experience. One thing he will make clear is that the Movement was NOT centered on one man--Dr. King--but was instead the cumulative effort of tens of thousands. The mass=movement aspect of the struggle is too often subordinated to a "popular" image of one great leader (a modern Moses) leading his people to justice. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
        In fact, King was widely resented by many of the people in the trenches, and was sometimes derisively referred to as "De Lawd." Jo Anne Robinson was the one person most responsible for the successful bus boycott in Montgomery, but the media scarcly mentioned her, giving all credit to Dr. King. Fred Shuttlesworth and his associates organized the challenge to police authority in Birmingham. (cont)
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        1-2-Oscar1 year, 1 month ago
        
        But King arrived late and the media focused on him and virtually ignored Shuttlesworth, who had even organized the famous "Children's March." In Memphis, where King was murdered in 1968, th Sanitation Workers Strike was organized and supported by local laders, including Rev. Samuel "Billy" Kyles, NAACP leader Dr. Maxine Smith, and union activist Sidney Chism. But as far as the media were concerned, it was King's movement, and these were merely supporting figures.
        The Civil Rights Movement was the cumulative success of thousands. Septima Clark, Bob Moses, Fannie Lou Hamer, John and Viola McFerren, John Lewis, and many, many more. But the media never really understood what was going on, and looked for simplistic explanations for a complex phenomenon. It was these "ordinary people" who changed America, and Dr. King and the federal government never really took the lead in anything.
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        david_nwpa1 year, 1 month ago
        
        Would you argue then, 1-2-Oscar that her role was subordinated by the media because she was a woman and not a reverend?
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        1-2-Oscar1 year, 1 month ago
        
        The fact that Robinson was female was certainly the most significant reason the media ignored her, but even her peers in Montgomery argued that they "needed a man" to represent their movement. Jo Anne Robinson, holder of a doctorate herself, was a professor at Alabama State University and was certainly articulate enough to do the job, but many feared that she would be ignored SIMPLY BECAUSE SHE WAS A WOMAN.
        Once King was established as a spokesperson for Civil Rights, it became easier for the media to focus on him. They never had to fully explain the dynamics of the movement to the public (especially in the North). They never had to show how our leader's political cowardice kept them from fully supporting change. They could even make Kennedy look like a friend of the Movement (which he definitely was NOT), and ignore his dependence on Southern committee chairmen in both the House and Senate. The media was well satisfied with the myths they created.
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        1-2-Oscar1 year, 1 month ago
        
        And incidentally, david, I did not "completely discredit" marlene, as anyone who read all of my comments can attest. Hers is the sort of story we run into all the time, because it is a feel-good story and those tend to remain in circulation and grow with time. But it's not exactly the way things happened.
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        david_nwpa1 year, 1 month ago
        
        That negative was a mistake, you should have gotten a positive vote. Your comments have been quite educational to say the least, and I admit, I did bait you into explaining more about Charles Payne. Thanks for all this information, the struggle for civil rights in America is a breathtaking one and you have encapsulated a considerable amount of detail in a very short space. Much appreciated, 1-2-Oscar.
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david_nwpa1 year, 1 month ago

Life as an outsider gives a person a perspective that sets one apart from the rest of the people around whom one is acquainted. In other words, the world is a cool place when we stop looking at what makes us different and start focusing on what makes us human.
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  ecotourusa1 year, 1 month ago
  
  great article David. I am most grateful for being brought in my family and everything i was introduced to from the get go.
  First of all I'm from a family of 9 siblings; whose mother was a doctor, and my father was the first Mr. Mom I ever knew.
  When my mother and father were working, we were being raised by black maids/housekeepers/whatever you want to call them. (who were very much a part of my family) And, as each one died off, and we were the only white family at their funerals, we were always accepted with open and loving arms.
  Having a brother and sister who were gay introduced me to the understanding of homosexuality.
  It was a very dear moment when my father saw my gay brother perform as a professional ballet dancer, live on stage, receive a standing ovation. It brought tears of joy and happiness. And this was huge since my dad forced my brother to play football most of his life until he was accepted into American Ballet Theatre.
  And, btw, I saw Hairspray 2X already!
  
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Hobe1 year, 1 month ago

'Hairspray: Gays and Race'
'Hairspray: HOMOsexuals and Race'
How Sad and Pathetic to try and compare Race to HOMOsexuals?
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  ecotourusa1 year, 1 month ago
  
  Hobe-
  isn't mommy calling your miserable A S S for dinner?
  or, are you simply lost?
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    lvrofwolves1 year, 1 month ago
    
    Hobe, is there someone in your life who has made you such a bitter narrow minded intolerant person, or do you think you just have a brain chemistry imbalance?
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    ecotourusa1 year, 1 month ago
    
    fortunately, we are still a free nation. so all comments are recognized as valid...I suppose
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    smeejay1 year, 1 month ago
    
    sadly hobe isn't lost. hobe is exactly where they've CHOSEN to be. hobe certainly isn't stupid, as stupid would be the inability to comprehend this poignant and very relevant article. hobe is ignorant. as in ignoring. and not so much because they ignore so many recognized facts about HOMOsexuals, as they NEED to refer to us for some sad reason. it isn't even the fact that they CHOOSE to ignore the millions of similarities between the both of us and continually focus on our differences. hobe is ignorant because of their CHOSEN desire to remain out of touch with their OWN humanity. a humanity that, if truly honored and recognized would allow, no force them no option than to see our struggle in a humane light. a human light. i guess until that day comes, if it ever comes, hobe will continue to be only part of the person they are truly capable of being. oh, and this is why i prefer to refer to hobe as hobeless. it's so sad to waste one's life being hobeless, er...hopeless.
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nothingpetty1 year, 1 month ago

Have not seen "Hairspray", but then I don't see many movies- but hooray for anything that creates an "Ah,yes, I see" moment.
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kedirian1 year, 1 month ago

In any forest - one of God's magnificent creations! - one can see trees and plants that only bloom and enrich the world with their beauty, yet they don't bear fruit...
Acceptance of homosexuals on an equal footing with heterosexuals, each with their unique gifts and talents will do much to enrich this world - and solve the problems of War, Pestilence, Poverty, and their fruit: Global Warming...
It is this message that the great Religions of this world have so miserably failed to teach - obsessed as they are with Dominion and Control and competition with secular authority!
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MiraJane1 year, 1 month ago

what a lovely, well written article.
I never saw Hairspray as a 'homosexual' movie or play. {I haven't seen the new movie, I've seen the first version many times.]
It never mattered to me if a man was playing the role of a woman. After all, it was done that way in Shakespeare's time, so it's good enough for me for it to be done in modern times.
But I've also never cared at all what gender anyone else was having sex with. I only care what gender someone is sexually interested in when *I* am sleeping with them. Otherwise it's none of my, or anyone else's, business.
And I wonder about the people who voted to sink this story....
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Hobe1 year, 1 month ago

'Hairspray: Gays and Race'
MirsJane... Excellent Post....
' It never mattered to me if a man was playing the role of a woman.'
By some of the ignorant posts it appears some HOMOsexuals refuse to understand that what they are and how they act is of no concern of mine and of most intelligent people?
''Hairspray: HOMOsexuals and Race' is an excellent article when taken at it's face value, this is a Fact.. However, when one wants to use this to Push the HOMOsexual Agenda, well, that's missing the whole point of the writer???
' But I've also never cared at all what gender anyone else was having sex with.'
Some HOMOsexuals never seem to understand this fact...
Pushing their respective agenda is their major Issue??
All Americans Should and Must be Treated with the same Respect and Equality!
Is this Really hard to Understand???

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smeejay1 year, 1 month ago

hobeless, you are truly confounding. and quite contradictory. for someone that cares not about the gender that someone sleeps with, you have added more than your fair share of sad pessimistic comments on gay related stories here on netscape. how else could i be se well aqauinted with your retoric, and your idiosyncratic way of presenting it? as a parent i'm truly astonished that you would wish for one or more of your children, should you be fortunate enough that they were HOMOsexual, to be treated as second class citizens. never once have i seen a single glbt ask for more rights than any other american citizen is granted. EQUAL, HOBELESS, EQUAL. your continued need to see the gay rights stuggle as ANYTHING other than a search for eqaulity under the law is appalling.
ALL AMERICANS SHOULD AND MUST BE TREATED WITH THE SAME RESPECT AND EQUALITY! IS THIS REALLY SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND???
apparently for you it is, hobeless.
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ecotourusa1 year, 1 month ago

without getting personal, i think I understand hobe.
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