As a folklorist, I have been dismayed at how our current administration here in the US has passed along misleading information, falsehoods, and vain beliefs about the pandemic now rampant in our world. The failure to lead, the ready acceptance of myths and wild speculations, the casual relating of false information—all of these are attempts to placate with tall tales rather than help our citizens find a way to cope with this devastating virus. Professor Geoffrey Joyce wrote an article for The Conversation July 8, 2020, titled “5 COVID-19 Myths Politicians have repeated that just aren’t true.” I adapt his “ 5 myths” here and call out the current administration for offering our people tall tales instead of the truth.
July 4, 2020~a troubled time for celebrating our nation’s beginnings. Everyone claims to revere the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all, and yet we have seen evidence of inequality in so many instances. And we have seen broken promises, powerful people reversing hard-won laws and regulations, directives that have in the past moved us closer to the kind of shared union we have proclaimed we have always wanted America to be. People in positions of power who turn their backs on the people who have helped make this an admired and potent nation remind me of the skipper in The Golden Vanity, a folksong from the days of sailing ships. The foe is no longer some mythical “Turkish enemy” but rather our own leaders who fail to protect, serve, and cherish the people of this democracy. Vote them out.
Juneteenth—a day of celebration. Enslaved people in Texas finally (1865) got the news that they were emancipated. African-Americans have had precious few occasions to celebrate, and this event and the eventual Emancipation Proclamation, the 15th and 19th amendments to the Constitution, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Fair Housing Act of 1968, and a few other such legal advances have unfortunately left the dominant worldview that includes racism mostly intact. My hope is that the recent protests will inspire a re-education and emotional enlightenment of our national soul and bring us all the empathy, intelligence, and bigheartedness I think we all want to identify as what is truly American.
I have always been attracted to the African-American spiritual Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child. If I were back teaching high school English as I did for a while many years ago, I would say here we have a perfect example of a series of similes. First the singer speaks of feeling like a motherless child, then she laments that it feels like the night will never end, then, gloriously, she feels briefly like an eagle in the air, but in the end she goes back to feeling like a motherless child—a woeful, heartbreaking comparison. I accept gratefully that I have never had to endure the discrimination that blacks in America have experienced, continue to experience. But this song helps me emotionally place myself for a short while in their shoes. I find it a powerful song, and I am grateful for all the many singers who have shared it with us over the years. I’ll share my recording of it with you here. Thank you for listening.
