I was watching some of the old Al Jolson videos on Youtube and seeing him with a black face except around his mouth I was reminded on the long running and never repeated singing show in the UK called the Black and White Minstrel Show. Putting aside the fact that Al Jolson was a brilliant singer and consummate entertainer, and my own innocent enjoyment of a load of men and women singing, one cannot be blind to the racism inherent in these shows. Even if the shows were filled with Black singers they have a certain aura of racism that these people are only here to entertain. As an actress once said in the 1950s about the black extras, ‘would it hurt to have one or two of them carrying briefcases?’
Many people tell us that these entertainments were of their age and we should not judge but surely if we did not judge they would still be with us? Surely if the people judged rightly at the time they actually would have seen them for what they are – highly offensive to some parts of the human family.
But of course to most people there is no human family. Myriad are the people who would press a button to rid the world of some section or other. Comics say of we listened to everyone who was offended we would have no jokes. We might, I think, have fewer jokes and we may end up with far better ones. Be that as it may, we would be listening which is not something humanity is well known for, to its shame.