If “Jingle Bells” doesn’t pass muster for social justice warriors, then “White Christmas” doesn’t stand a chance.
Boston University theater professor Kyna Hamill has declared the beloved Christmas carol “Jingle Bells” to be a racist song, insisting the classic has a “problematic history” of being performed to make fun of African Americans.
“The legacy of ‘Jingle Bells’ is one where its blackface and racist origins have been subtly and systematically removed from its history,” Hamill wrote in a research paper on the carol, according to Fox News.
CHRISTMAS CONTROVERSY: Boston University Professor claims ‘Jingle Bells’ is a racist song pic.twitter.com/ko4ULQz1Ys
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) December 14, 2017
“Although ‘One Horse Open Sleigh,’ for most of its singers and listeners, may have eluded its racialized past and taken its place in the seemingly unproblematic romanticization of a normal ‘white’ Christmas, attention to the circumstances of its performance history enables reflection on its problematic role in the construction of blackness and whiteness in the United States,” she added.
Hamill not only claims the popular carol reflects traces of blackface minstrel, she also suggested it’s sexist, featuring “elements of ‘male display,’ boasting, and the unbridled behavior of the male body onstage,” Fox News reported.
She panned the song’s lyrics, which Hamill said “display no real originality,” building her case, in part, around the notion that “southern” sounding words were used.
“Words such as ‘thro,’ ‘tho’t,’ and ‘upsot’ suggest a racialized performance that attempted to sound ‘southern’ to a northern audience,” Hamill wrote.
And while she is sure to find a willing audience on the left, social media users were a little more skeptical.
Here’s a sampling of responses from Twitter:
https://twitter.com/richc580/status/941405128803913729
https://twitter.com/Education4Libs/status/941791134757425152
https://twitter.com/stevemcgrew/status/941400942649495553
https://twitter.com/Really_FUBAR/status/941749745407709184
Yet another liberal nutcase, BU's #KynaHamill, says "Jingle Bells" is racist because "it was first performed in this blackface minstrel hall in Boston" and was "one of many attempts by [author] Pierpont to cash in on the racist entertainment that was popular at the time." pic.twitter.com/AWCM07aSjq
— SANDY SIMPSON🇺🇸 (@SandySimpson100) December 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/smoss319/status/941387417952636928
When people begin to use the term "racist" on any and everything, it looses its meaning for when something is truly racist and needs to be fought against. https://t.co/nQEXha2WQL
— Pamela Morrett Meloy (@pmorrett) December 15, 2017
Man the left is pushing racism so far that it's being neutered! Which is a shame because those people that are truly racist will never be exposed! https://t.co/HXcK1MidZQ
— Vortex ~ GAB @vortex1155 ~ PLEASE FOLLOW! (@VORTEX1155) December 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/RepublicanRogue/status/941323180341305344
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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