An Explanation Of Racism's Song

You can’t say I didn’t warn you. This song is racist on about every level. It refers to black people as “niggers’ and “coons” constantly. This is the first sign of extreme racism. By referring to black people as those terms is a form of dehumanization. It gives the impression that the singer’s belief is that African Americans are less than human and that makes it okay to not treat them with basic decency and respect. The whole song paints the African American community as caricature that perpetuates all kinds of racial stereotypes such as loving watermelon and sin. There is also a line in there about marking a colored man “with the nick of a knife.” This also suggests that the singer was treating the idea of harming a colored man as something of little importance or consequence.

The song did not exist in unknown obscurity, it was a popular song during the era that it was written in. The fact that it was popular say a lot about the societal values of the era. Its popularity most likely means that the majority of the population identified with the song’s message. It seems that the prevailing societal view is that African Americans were subhuman and that’s why it was okay to treat them so poorly. This song was written fifty years after slavery was abolished, but as you can by the acceptance of this song by society shows that deep rooted racism was still present at the time. It is important to understand the historical implications of this song so that this racist way of thinking is never socially accepted