
Going to Graceland - samclemens
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/going-to-graceland
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RickJWagner
Graceland is a fun visit. For all Elvis' fame and wealth, the house really
isn't all that fancy. He had the best available at the time, but there are
better things today.

About the recording, I expect I know how it's going to be. When the list of
contributors includes Alec Baldwin and James Carville it seems likely that
it's not really about entertainment.

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jpster
This quote from Van Jones does a great job of explaining why "cultural
appropriation" is a thing that some black people feel strongly about.

>It’s an interesting country. It inflicts pain on black people, denies that it
inflicted pain, but then benefits from the soulful cry that arises from the
pain.

~~~
ljw1001
It's a good quote but a rather simplistic description of black music which is
much more than just a soulful cry. It can be joyous, funny, bawdy, sexy,
devout - every emotion under the sun. And its roots pre-date slavery.

I can't imagine living in an America without black music. It would be for me
like living in a desert, but I also wonder what people would say if someone
told Wynton Marsalis or Yo Yo Ma that they can't play classical. I'm guessing
some people did tell Ray Charles that he couldn't play country, which he
loved, and he did it anyway, but I don't think re-drawing those lines benefits
anyone.

Same with visual arts. So many great black painters working in America today.
Are we supposed to deny them access to the western art tradition? Sorry,
Picasso and Matisse are for white guys.

~~~
jpster
Perhaps by "soulful cry" Jones was referring specifically to the blues and
gospel? The article mentions that these were two of Elvis's primary
influences.

It's hard to imagine a world without cultural exchange. It seems a huge part
of what makes us human. I don't think people who write or speak about
"cultural appropriation" want cultural exchange to end. I think it's more
about questioning the terms under which the cultural exchange takes place.
E.g., who has the power to begin with, is it a fair exchange.

>I also wonder what people would say if someone told Wynton Marsalis or Yo Yo
Ma that they can't play classical.

Growing up as minorities in America, one supposes that Marsalis and Ma _were_
told in ways subtle and unsubtle that they were less than. So playing
classical music might be seen as a way of defying the prevailing and unjust
expectations, rather than appropriation.

Realistic or not, there may also be an expectation that, if you benefit from a
people's culture, you should be a proactive ally to said people when the chips
are down. And pipe up even when it's not politically expedient to do so.

It was interesting to read in the article that

>the two black newspapers in Memphis at the time, both reported favorably on
Presley, whom they saw as a kind of ally.

I wonder why.

