Rant #2,358: Happy To Be Unhappy

Happy Easter.

Happy Passover.

Happy Earth Day.

I think I have everything covered.

But I am not happy this morning.

In fact, I am insulted.

The baseball team that I have rooted for since the beginning of my time, the team I was weened on, sweated with, and supported for decades has made a faux pas that is making them look awfully stupid, and this stupidity is well deserved.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, our country was attacked inwardly by forces that we had never seen and were not prepared for.

People lost their lives in these massacres, and our lives changed forever because of this brutality.

Many organizations wanted to do something to help with the healing, and the New York Yankees decided that during the seventh inning stretch, they would play epic singer Kate Smith's rousing rendition of "God Bless America" to make us feel better about ourselves and our country.

They continued to play Smith's rendition of the song until just about a week ago, when their organist's rendition of the song replaced Smith's song.

Why? Because someone, or some organization, brought up that during the Depression era, about 90 years ago, Smith--one of the most popular singers of her generation--sung at least two songs that in 2019's eyes, could be construed as being racist.

The two songs in question, with questionable lyrics, are "That's Why Darkies Were Born" and "Pickanninny Heaven."

If anyone wanted to prove to the world that political correctness has gone mad, all they had to do is bring up this Smith saga, and it would be proved without a shadow of a doubt.

These songs, the first being a 1931 "hit" for the singer, were sung in an era where songs featuring these types of topics and lyrics were highly acceptable. They were sung by many singers, including black vocalists, and nobody thought anything more about them.

Even in the 1930s, the music of the time reflected the period from which they came from. Even in the tock era, the music of the time represented that era, whether you are talking about "Rock Around the Clock" in the 1950s or "Beat It" in the 1990s.

To dredge up music of the Depression era--decades and decades ago--and hold it up to the supposed standards of today is utterly ridiculous, and to pin this on Smith's head and career is equally ridiculous.

Again, many singers of the time sung those same songs--including activist, actor and singer Paul Robeson--and nobody thought anything of it.

Smith did not author the song, she did not write its lyrics, she only interpreted the song. Yet her memory is being sullied by the PC crowd, who really don't understand that the 1920s and 1930s are not 2019--a year where they turn their backs on the current repulsive music trends to sully something that went on decades ago.

Nobody says the lyrics are acceptable by today's standards, but back then, there was no such thing as political correctness, and people did as they did without having to worry about others looking over their shoulders and criticizing their every move.

And for anyone to bring up these songs of their times in 2019 is completely reprehensible. In fact, by bringing them up again, you are putting the spotlight on them, songs that were buried for good decades ago, never to be heard again.

So whoever or whatever brought these songs to the Yankees' ears, well, what was your point?

And for the Yankees to actually listen to this babble, and bow down to current PC correctness, again, what is the point?

And let's not forget the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers in all of this mess, a team that Smith was almost a real human mascot for during the latter stages of her life and who has a statue erected for her service to the team--not only is her rendition of the song now banned, but her statue is covered up by tarp!

In 2019, we live in a world where again, the music reflects the times.

The garbage that rules the music scene today is repulsive, suing heinous lyrics full of four letter words and vile images to get its points across.

Funny, I don't hear anybody getting upset over those songs, just songs from 90 years ago. Maybe we should look at our own music and mores first before getting riled up at things that happened when most of us weren't even on this earth.

And if the Yankees are suddenly so sensitive to things that happened when Babe Ruth was the face of the game, then maybe they should look at their own history for things to get riled up about.

Fact: The team began their existence as the Highlanders in 1903, and a few years later, the name was changed to "Yankees." To many in the old south, the term was used in a derogatory way to describe northerners.

Fact: The Yankees were one of the last Major League Baseball teams to have a black player on their roster. Elston Howard was their first black player, coming to the team in 1955--a full eight years after the game had been integrated when Jackie Robinson began his Hall of Fame career with the crosstown Brooklyn Dodgers. Howard would go on to win the American League's Most Valuable Player Award in 1963.

Fact: The Yankees were perhaps the last Major League Baseball team to have a Jewish player on their roster. Ron Blomberg was their first Jewish player, coming to the team in 1969--or more than 90 years after Lipman Pike was the first Jewish professional baseball player. Blomberg would gain notoriety as baseball's first designated hitter.

And if you want to include the Flyers in these facts, just how many players of color has this team had on their roster during the team's existence? And how many black players have actually played in the NHL since its existence?

Look inward before you look outward, and address things within your own organization that need explanations.

I could go on and on and on about discretions within the Yankees themselves that need a bit more study, but why bother? This is 2019, and we are supposedly past all of this.

For someone or something--the Yankees are not saying who alerted them--to dredge up the past like this is not only an insult to Smith and her family and her legacy, but it is an insult to Yankees fans like myself, who have our own brains and use them freely.

This nonsense has got to stop, and it must stop now.