If We Cancel Kate Smith, We Must Cancel The New York Yankees

The Federalist ^ | 04/23/2019 | David Marcus

[SeekAndFind]

It was announced this week that both the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Flyers would stop using their traditional recorded version of Kate Smith singing “God Bless America” during their games. This happened after it surfaced that Smith had performed songs now considered racist during during her hey day in the 1930s. The Flyers, with whom Smith is more closely aligned as the good luck charm for their 1974 Stanley Cup run, even removed a statue of her from the Philadelphia sports complex.

In a brilliant monologue, sports commentator Jason Whitlock broke down the absurdity of these moves. The whole video is worth watching. Among other things, Whitlock points out that the song “That’s Why The Darkies Were Born,” recorded by Smith in the 1930s, was satire that was also performed by black civil rights legend Paul Robeson. I hope Robeson, one of the most important black figures of the 20th century, won’t have to meet this same fate.

But I would like to focus for a moment on the New York Yankees, which is arguably the most important sports franchise in the world. The irony of this team cancelling Smith for actions she took almost a century ago that are only mildly problematic, while their own team refused to hire black ballplayers, is astounding.

Smith sang a silly song. The Yankees systematically denied qualified black baseball players the right to make a good a living for more than half a century. So why is Smith being exiled while the Bronx Bombers go along like nothing happened? The answer is that throwing Smith under the bus more than 40 years after her death costs nothing. It is the empty virtue signaling that corporate America prefers to reflecting on their actions.

If we must lose Smith — if her statues must be taken down, if her songs must be silenced — then how do we justify allowing modern players, including black players, to wear the uniform of a team that denied black Americans agency and personhood? Any fair treatment of this situation would require that the Yankee pinstripes be retired right along side Smith.

Amidst the controversy, Stephen Smith of ESPN chimed in to try to explain why banishing Kate Smith is acceptable. His co-panelist Will Cain argued that if we go down this road of dragging everyone who did something inappropriate nearly a century ago, who will be left? He even pointed out that maybe Barack Obama should be cancelled for his bigoted views on gay marriage, and that was only a decade ago. Smith thought he had an answer.

He said, “That’s pretty d-mn easy for you to say, because you’re not the offended party. It’s real easy for the group that is not the offended party to take that position.” Cain replied, “There will always be an offended party, Stephen A, and they’ll make that argument to you one day.” Count on it.

Smith’s deeply misguided point seems to be that if some group of people are offended — and it’s not entirely clear who actually is offended by Kate Smith — then their destructive desires must be entertained and acted upon. No discussion is needed, no context is required, no good works come into play. Just tear down the statue and throw the offender into the dustbin of history.

Fair enough. I am deeply offended by the fact that the New York Yankees refused to field a black player for the first half of the 20th century. Don’t tell me that’s just how it was. Don’t tell me it was the rule. Branch Rickey and the Brooklyn Dodgers had the courage to break that rule in the 1940s, well before the beloved Yankees did. How can this be forgiven? How can we celebrate their legacy while Kate Smith’s is destroyed?

The only fair and just thing to do here is for the New York Yankees franchise to fold, along with all but the expansion Major League Baseball franchises that came into being after integration. We can replace them quickly with new teams, teams that never denied black people the right to play. If Kate Smith is being cancelled for her actions 80 years ago, then so must the New York Yankees be.

These are the rules. Well, sort of. These are the rules when it doesn’t cost anybody any money. These are the rules when we decide to deride the memory of a woman who achieved greatness at a time when that was very hard.

She immortalized a second national anthem, and raised millions to support the war effort in World War II. Yet she is a problem for singing a satirical song. But Joe DiMaggio is a hero even though he consented to outright racism that helped him secure his job. Let’s end the Yankees. Please sign my petition.

-- David Marcus is the Federalist's New York Correspondent and the Artistic Director of Blue Box World, a Brooklyn based theater project

[xp38]

Well to be fair every team that existed before say 1945 should join the dustbin too.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Breaking: Classic Rock Standard Deemed Unsuitable for US Radio

Rock artist Ozzy Osborne’s standard “Shot In The Dark” will be banned from all classic rock stations across the US because it encourages handgun violence against African-Americans.

[billyboy15]

Yeah, what you said!

[wattsgnu]

Read it. You are correct. “The only fair and just thing to do here is for the New York Yankees franchise to fold, along with all but the expansion Major League Baseball franchises that came into being after integration. We can replace them quickly with new teams, teams that never denied black people the right to play. If Kate Smith is being canceled for her actions 80 years ago, then so must the New York Yankees be.”

[Jim Robinson]

History is history. You can’t change it or redo it. And you can’t punish people who are long dead. You learn from it and then go on. Forgive and forget otherwise you’ll get so wrapped up in hate that future historians will look back and wonder why WE were so hateful toward each other.

[bigbob]

That’d be good...

[Truthoverpower]

Its amazing how much controversy can be created out of nothing

IN particular there is no more real racism so the demoncats and media must constantly try and bring it up

non stop

Ignore them assiduosly

[Zenjitsuman]

Kate was a patriot, she raised money for the military and out men in uniform. Her singing kept my fathers spirit up
while he patrolled the Atlantic and Pacific in a tanker ship
loaded to the gills with gasoline, and diesel, while the sharks the German and Japanese U boats hunted his ship.

Kate passed long ago, let her RIP and don’t say anything ill of this patriot. Isn’t anything off limits to these rabid leftist. They kick you while your down and dead, and when your alive they plot to tar your reputation and spy on you.

EF them.

[xp38]

Well I’m not so sure about replacement. I kind of find it amusing for Toronto and Tampa Bay to fight each season for the AL east title. The turf league! And yes I know the Orioles only started in 1954 but they were the Browns before that so to the trash heap with them too! :)

[dfwgator]

The Yankees Suck. Th-e-e-e-e-e Yankees Suck!

[Steely Tom]

Rock artist Ozzy Osborne’s standard “Shot In The Dark” will be banned from all classic rock stations across the US because it encourages handgun violence against African-Americans.

Don't tell anyone about Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side.

[Chewbarkah]

There are many published pics of the Ku Klux Klan parading at the 1924 Democratic National Convention, held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The KKK was the most powerful bloc in the Democratic Party, and the Convention was called the “Klanbake.”

How can leftist nuts attack Kate Smith for a racist song from the same era, but overlook the Democratic Party’s roots in slavery, overt racism, and religious bigotry? (Unlike Kate Smith, it really was blatantly racist until the 1960’s). Disband it! Obliterate it from books and memory!

[Steely Tom]

Or the Stones' Brown Sugar.

[dfwgator]

Don't tell anyone about Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side.

Or the Rolling Stones "Some Girls".

[amnestynone]

here is a video of Paul r
Robeson singing the same song Kate smith was dinged for singing. I guess he was a bigot too. . www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqaw2jviEsQ

[Steely Tom]

“Don’t mind the maggots!”

[dfwgator]

Now, I’d like to speak about the subject of a certain Mick Jagger – of the Rolling Stones. … And I’m going to talk about the song he sang — a song in which he sings these very words: “Black girls – just want to have sex – all night long.” …

Now, Mr. Jagger, there is only one question I want to ask you — Jaggs. … And you better have the answer, man, you better have the answer, since you have besmirched the character of black women. Therefore, here is my question, Jaggs.

[pleading] Where are all of these black broads, man? … Hey, like, where ARE they, baby? You got any phone numbers for me, baby? …Please send ’em to me. [puts glasses back on, dignified again] Thank you. …

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

The Stories - Brother Louie.

[Steely Tom]

Did you mean this?

Buck Henry: 05/26/79: Weekend Update with Jane Curtin & Bill Murray.

Website isn't allowing hot link of Garrett Morris' pic.