Past Culture Dominates the Present

I watched a You Tube the other night of Comedian Don Rickles on :”The Tonight Show.” In it, he addressed an African American woman in a way that got howls from the audience. I thought, wow, things have changed since the 1980s. He would get murdered for that routine today.

One of the most popular radio and television programs of all time was entitled “Amos and Andy.” Mercy. Pull up an old episode of that program.

Fast forward to Sanford and Son.

Now, forget about racism….How about the comedy of Foster Brooks? How improper would that depiction of alcoholism be seen today?

My point is----those incredibly popular acts----in their own time----were considered appropriate.

That brings me to Virginia Governor Ralph Northam who is being shamed by both sides of the political aisle for a photo in his law school 1984 yearbook that showed someone in blackface and another person in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe.

He hasn’t been totally forthcoming about the picture---saying first---he was in the picture---then denying it later. He offered that he once used shoe polish to imitate Michael Jackson for a dance contest in 1984.

In any case, he has apologized profusely.

Many of Northam’s biggest detractors never said a word about Senator Robert Byrd, who actually served as an officer of the KKK, but was allowed to serve in the U.S. Senate for 51 years. You simply can’t have it both ways.

That said, I have real problems on his stand on abortion---but I can’t fault him for his actions in a past culture that had no way to predict future sensitivities.