Mother faces Up to 1 Year in Jail for Booing ‘Racist’ Skit

January 31st, 2012 - By Brande Victorian

It’s rare that anyone would boo a children’s dance recital but that’s exactly what Jackie Carter, mother of a Kenwood Middle School girl in Arlington, VA, did when the Bowen McCauley Dance Company performed “Little Rabbit, Where’s Your Mammy?” Now, she faces up to one year in jail for her actions.

Jackie first saw the performance involving a white kid and his black mammy singing and dancing to the tune of “Little Rabbit” on the morning of April 29, 2011. She immediately reached out to school officials and the founder of the dance company with no success to discuss the skit which she said was “racist and offensive to African-Americans and African American women especially.” That afternoon, she returned for another performance during which she stood up and booed and also handed out letters of protest. When Jackie returned to see yet another performance  April 30 and began booing, she said she was attacked by Bowen McCauley staff members who began hitting her, blocking her from returning to her seat, and pulling her in different directions. Jackie was subsequently arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, a Class 1 misdemeanor which carries a penalty of up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. She told Afro her actions were justified:

“The principal told me the Bowen McCauley Dance Company was a partner of the school, therefore, he was not going to challenge it. They left me with no choice.”

The school principal continued to defend the skit in a letter to Kenwood parents on May 2 as well, writing:

“The word ‘mammy’ used in the song is a colloquial affectionate term for mother or grandmother and was used historically and still today in some areas by both African and White Americans, especially in the south. I recognize that the term mammy is sometimes viewed as an offensive term for a Black nursemaid in the southern U.S.”

Jackie, a long-time and well-known stage director in the DC area, isn’t buying it, and neither should anyone else. She wrote that the mammy scene centers on the image of the slave birthing women used as wet-nurses and “the many other unspeakable crimes committed against their enslaved minds, souls and bodies,” therefore it should not be performed. The school may not have listened but Jackie will have another chance to defend her point of view and her actions at her next hearing April 23.

I can’t call this one. Do you think Jackie deserves jail time for disrupting the recital? Were her actions justified?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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  • Passing through while surfing

    I’ve read the above, and I’m not sure what to think of it.  The song itself has no writer credits as it is an extremely old folk tune and was probably performed by minstrels.  There is a possibility that its origin may have been from African-Americans (I don’t know, but a great deal of the bluegrass music has their roots in the music of the African-Americans).  This is a well known piece to many bluegrass players, though I don’t know if the lyrics are used that often.
     
    That said, I think she handled this badly.  I sometimes wonder if we have gone too PC and we overlook (or want to overlook) history.  Is the song racist, hard to say; as with most folk tunes the lyrics change dramatically and there are quite a few variations to this song (some could be out of Grimm’s Fairytales and some are very light-hearted).  Overall, I would equate her actions to be akin to demanding that Mark Twain’s books be removed from the schools/libraries.
     
    It is sad, in a way, that the United States has become so PC and people so thin skinned about everything.  I would dearly love to see “Song of the South” released in the US but it is considered non-PC and will probably never see the light of day in the US (I do have a copy as it is available almost anywhere else in the world, you need a DVD player from that region though).  Forget the fact that James Baskett was the first African-American to win and academy award for his performance as Uncle Remus; and though he was portrayed as a slave (or former slave) he was the wisest person in the movie.

    • cl

      You need you be educated.  The term Mammy is VERY offensive and derogatory, and was used specifically towards black women.  No black person, past or present would ever use the term Mammy amongst themselves.  This term is loved by whites because it reminds them of how Negroes knew their place.  PLEASE don’t try to make this offensive word (particularly to black women) innocent; it’s not. 

      Secondly, Song of the South?  Dat’s right, Ole Uncle Remus wuz show happy to be a slave – sho nuff.  Instead of me making sure my family was was taken care of, and MY children happy, I’se gotta make sho dis here white boy is happy first. 

      Get a clue.  It’s the same as white women seeing stupid 1950s commercials about how happy they are to clean their home and serve their husbands – all while making sure they were immaculate, so they wouldn’t offend.  Do you think white women would want to see these types of idiotic commercials return? 

      What planet do you live on?

  • mdeborah827

    What she should have done was contact her local NAACP for starters.  She needed to go with a group.  Going alone was the mistake.  They need to be picketed and exposed. I’m in her corner completely. 

  • mdeborah827

    What she should have done was contact her local NAACP for starters.  She needed to go with a group.  Going alone was the mistake.  They need to be picketed and exposed. I’m in her corner completely. 

  • OBE1 Kip Ooozee!! Buuddaatt!!!

    Speak Tuth to Power…………..By All means!

  • Opinionated4Days

    FYI: Virginia contains a city named LYNCHberg. Dunno what else to add except that Sistah would be better off living elsewhere. Apparently Freedom of Expression does NOT include “Free Speech” for certain citizens. Let’s not play dumb. A state with a city named LYNCHberg (BTW: named after Ol’ Willie Lynch himself, y’all!!!!) couldn’t be expected to make the school play an accolade to our country’s half-African president….or a tribute to honor Black History Month. Let’s stop playing clueless (BRANDE VICTORIA. Get Real.)

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