Posted on 04/22/2016 7:26:19 PM PDT by markomalley
A simple musical performance at Brown University became a source of tremendous controversy Thursday night after student protesters denounced it for having Hindu chants sung by a white woman.
Carrie Grossman, a 2000 Brown graduate, performed in “An Evening of Devotional Music,” which organizers touted as an “intimate evening of inquiry, music and meditation.” Grossman’s performance was a kirtan, a form of traditional chanting that originates in the Indian subcontinent.
But to some students, it was actually an intimate evening of gruesome cultural appropriation, because Grossman had the temerity to sing chants from India despite being white.
“How does your whiteness impact how you engage with these cultures?” a student asked Grossman prior to her performance, according to The Brown Daily Herald. Another denounced her for “disturbing and appropriative language” on her website.
Eventually, Grossman’s performance began, but the protesters in the audience continued to shout out questions, which caused attendees who actually wanted to hear the performance to turn around and tell them to be quiet. Students were induced to move outside after announcing they would hold their own competing kirtan (notably, a photo of the protesters suggested only a handful were ethnically Indian).
After the production, the Herald said, Grossman came out to meet with protesters, where she was berated for not understanding the harm of her actions. When Grossman tried to say she had no intention of offending Indians by using their music, she was told that wasn’t enough.
“You saying that it wasn’t intended to be harmful doesn’t make it an apology,” student Aanchal Saraf said. Later, Grossman was told that she could at least atone for her crime by “[using] your privilege to make structural change.”
Tell the little weasel to GTFO!
It wouldn’t seem to me that a Hindu would object. It would likely be welcomed unless you had a militant of some sort. There is a temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand - Wat U Mong that welcomes Europeans and teaches meditation, including chants to anyone who wants to learn. The only request is that learners show respect.
Will they try to change the name of the university?
“Brown” doesn’t embrace total diversity. The shame of it all!
When my parents gave my sister a record player for Christmas, they threw in a few albums, including Fats Domino, which introduced me to "I'm a walkin'" , "Strawberry Hill" and some others. Of course this was a little behind the times, parents being parents, but very close, from the perspective of ages.
But what I was thinking of was the movie, "Shake, Rattle, and Rock", starring Mike "Mannix" Connors as a DJ, I think, defending the right of youth ( i.e. white youth ) to listen to "rock and roll" as epitomized by Fats Domino, who appeared in the film with his combo.
In a memorable scene the white youth flock to his performance, while the hidebound, and aged, anti-rock-and-rollers fume in frustration.
Race was not a theme in this movie, only modernity, which in itself represents a sort of naivete, certainly in view of the concerns we see here about "appropriation". But who is being naive?
these snowflakes need to stop culturally appropriating financial aid and classroom space at our universities. And they can turn in their jeans, too.
Is it still ok for a white person to play basketball? If not, shouldn’t blacks refrain from playing tennis?
Considering that a White Canadian invented basketball, sure.
Well, after all it is Brown University.
Crabs in a bucket. They climb all over each other to gain stature.
Enough is enough. These freaking foreigners come here to go to school and then whine they think Whites are appropriating their culture.
How about they stay home and go to school in their OWN SHITHOLE COUNTRY!
Then they wouldn’t have to worry about their 3d-world culture being “appropriated”.
I mean: That would have meant that it wasn't a case of "cultural or racial apppropriation," right?
Regards,
Good, I hope this white person sings Hindu chants at them until they day they die. These students need to be toughened up, they sound like a bunch of hyper-sensitive whack jobs ans if takes singing Hindu chants to do so, go white person!!!!
What ever happened to the “Hare Krishna” people? Are they still around? Almost all of them were white, IIRC.
I guess the rest of the world needs to stop using toilets, computers, airplanes, etc. This is getting ridiculous.
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