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“ACTING WHITE”

When, in regard to the “Jena 6,” situation, Jesse Jackson said that Barak Obama was “acting white,” he made a damned fool of himself, as well as to insult white people, black people and all people.

A polite supposition about the origin of the inane phrase is that it developed during the civil rights struggle, in an attempt to keep straying eyes focused “on the prize.” A rougher surmise is that it suggests crabs attempting to keep their fellow captives from climbing out of the barrel. Whatever its origin, it is offensive, especially in the mouths of those who certainly should know better.

Boy, have social concepts been turned on their heads! In the apartheid America in which I grew up—for everyone, regardless of race—there were just two ways of “acting”—properly or improperly. The social enclave in which we who were “colored” lived was a mirror image of the majority, “white” social structure—depending, of course, upon the size of the mirror on one’s particular side. When kids in decent families behaved improperly, they were admonished to “stop acting like “niggers.” That, then, was the corresponding mirror term for “white trash.”

Well aware of the fact of our daily marginalization and humiliation, we were not discouraged or cowed by it. It was merely a bump in the road we were taking in pursuit of our share of the “American Dream,” to which we knew we were entitled. On our side of the mirror—and within the parameters imposed therein—we had doctors, lawyers, educators, newspapers, magazines and everything else it took to sustain a circumscribed, reflected existence. Those who wanted to excel in that circle within a circle realized that deportment and language were indispensable in the effort to do so. Proper appearance, comportment and language were essential elements for employment and retention. Even in that racist milieu, those characteristics were distinguished among the denizens of the “inner circle.” The only “acting” then extant was that of an appropriate or inappropriate human being.

I have a particular sensitivity to the music scene, being a writer of libretti for music drama, lyrics and foreign-language song versions. Growing up in the Golden Age of the popular ballad, Broadway and Hollywood musicals, one was exposed to a plethora of good music. In those days, song lyrics were pure poetry and singers of all stripes were meticulous about pronouncing every syllable. (For a living example, listen to Tony Bennett.) In contrast, generally, those who practice some of today’s “music” without notes are the ones whom erstwhile we were admonished not to emulate.

So, let us deep-six this “acting white” nonsense. In order to survive in this ever-shrinking world, it is incumbent upon all of us to “act” as properly human as possible. And, as a bonus—you rappers who offend!—throw in a few notes of music and clean up YOUR “act!”