As a newcomer to the Central Valley of California, I've been steaming
lately about Congressman Condit. In fact, I'm surprised that Condit has
not been a topic of discussion on this list. "The congressman offered
no apologies..."
I've been out of the performing arena for about a year and a half now;
last year due to illness and subsequently since we moved and left our
former band. It was very meaningful that Julius included me in his
"Soul" list. My humble "thank you" Sir. I would add Nina Simone, Ma
Rainey, Johnny Heartsman, Joe Williams, Nat King Cole, Bessie Smith and
Esther Phillips to your list, but as you said, it's impossible to add
all those known and unknown.
As a Jewish woman growing up in America, I experienced bigotry
first-hand. Living in New York City (my grandparents emigrated to Ellis
Island), many of our neighbors had numbers tattooed on their arms.
Ironically, my own father was not much different than Archie Bunker,
spewing expletives and derogatory remarks towards non-Jewish people;
talk about hypocrisy. Just recently I was in a second-hand store and the
clerk said to a customer, "Why are you trying to Jew me down in price?"
Last week a co-worker referred to her boss as a Jewish American Prince.
Even though I realize this is a display of ignorance on "their" part, it
still hurts. It's still painful that a person would be thought of as
"lesser than" because of their ethnicity or heritage. I live in a
community now that has a large population of farm workers who grow and
pick the food that is delivered to our tables - why are they commonly
treated and referred to as "lesser than."
Prejudice is something I can never rationalize in my own mind.
Several years ago Joni was intereviewed by "Musician" (?) magazine and
said the greatest compliment she's received is that her music is
"...raceless and genderless..."
Leslie
