Prejudice probably exists in the first place because human beings have some kind of built-in thing in their psychology which makes us a little afraid and suspicious of someone who is different from ourselves.
...If they look different, or if we have knowledge that they are gay or Catholic or whatever... (Roman Catholics: "A Protestant! Oooh, weird!")
(Gene McCarthy: "Kennedy?! No way. All we have are farmers and Protestants...")
I think of myself as being a non-prejudiced person, but when I imagined a scenario where I'm walking along and I meet an alien from outer space with antennas on his head, I had to admit I would be afraid and suspicious.
Because I am not accustomed to seeing outer space aliens (I don't even really believe they exist) and it would be extremely startling if I were confronted with one.
That is prejudice, I guess. Maybe. I don't know.
This topic made me think of a scene in the film, The Buddy Holly Story.
Buddy Holly and the Crickets are booked to play at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. The guy who made the deal to bring them there assumed the people in the group were African American.
The M-C introduces the band, the curtains part and these three white dudes are revealed. The all-black audience's applause sort of trails off, and we hear a surprised murmur in the crowd. One man on the aisle looks like he's going to leave.
Buddy Holly (portrayed by actor Gary Busey) stands for a moment as if frozen in place. Then, looking a little nervous, he steps forward to the microphone and says, "Well we weren't expectin' y'all, either."
This was not in super-recent times, it was August of 1957.
Watch the clip on You Tube, it's six minutes (3 songs!)
video title: The Buddy Holly Story Live at the Apollo
uploader / channel: 48mafatue48
No comments:
Post a Comment