MovieChat Forums > Elvis Presley Discussion > Was Elvis a Racist?

Was Elvis a Racist?

posted 2 years ago by HarveyManFredSin (4877)
14 replies | jump to latest

I'm currently going through the hits of 1989, which of course includes the brilliant Fight the Power, by Public Enemy, and one of the lines that always sticks out is "Elvis was a hero to most, But he never meant s- to me you see, Straight up racist that sucker was, Simple and plain, Mother f- him and John Wayne..."

But, brilliant as Public Enemy is, are they right about Elvis? I mean, I wouldn't regard Chuck D as an authority on the subject in general, in view of some of his statements about Jewish people.

Anyway, I came across this nuanced, and thoughtful article regarding the charges against Elvis (and whilst I have no dog in this fight; I like a lot of his music, but I've never lionised Elvis or seen him as some sort of virtuous role-model): https://www.casino.org/news/vegas-myths-busted-elvis-presley-was-a-straight-up-racist/

Spoilers: the article comes down on the side that Elvis *wasn't* a racist, but what I like is that it takes the question seriously and fully examines the basis for those charges, rather than casually dismiss them without any sort of interrogation.

As an aside, as much as I adore Quincy Jones, I find it curious that he is one of the people leading the 'Elvis was a racist' charges, seeing how close he was to Michael Jackson who was once married to Lisa Marie Presley.

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[–] whynotwriteme (7725) 2 years ago

Elvis was a White man and as far as many are concerned, all of us who fit that description are racists from birth.

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[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) 2 years ago

Seems a bit prejudiced to me. No-one chooses to be born white or Black, and, so, it strikes me as the epitome of absurdity and irrationality to despise someone simply on the basis of the skin they were born with.

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[–] Luffy (1236) 2 years ago

Depends when and where the white or black man is born.

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[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) 2 years ago

What depends on when and where the white or Black man is born?

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[–] Lige (332) 2 years ago

Nope, he was not.

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[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

Who actually cares if Elvis was racist?

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[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) 2 years ago

Who cares about anything? Why bother even having conversations? Nothing really matters, so, why bother, right? 🙂

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[–] WandererFromYs (2324) 2 years ago

I believe it was actually professor Griff, not Chuck D that made those comments about the Jews.

Anyway I think the perception of Elvis is that he stole black music, and became the king of it, why not caring about black music or people in general. But it’s more of false perception, than a reflection of who he was as a person.

Give this a watch.
https://youtu.be/xd1pXw1DmsA

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[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) 2 years ago

You're right that Professor Griff made the majority of anti-Semitic statements attributed to Public Enemy, but I believe that Chuck D had a hand in writing these lyrics: "Crucifixion ain't no fiction / So-called chosen frozen / Apologies made to whoever pleases / Still they got me like Jesus," which many people understandably interpreted as anti-Semitic.

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[–] AnagramYYZ (610) 2 years ago

How old are you, Otto? You seem childlike.

Nobody is under any obligation to associate with complicated segments of society. This especially applies to public figures or entertainers as I see it, since they’ve already given enough of themselves on a daily basis.

Not everyone likes diversity or “experiencing various cultures” or whatever.

If you’re asking if Elvis was a white supremacist, well, if he was, he sucked hard at it since he introduced blackness into popular American music. And it wasn’t bad! Not as good as Irving Berlin, of course, but serviceable.

Since this new RockNRoll was still tailored for white audiences—it was far, far superior to the unadulterated black culture we have now. So, Elvis brought people together on a large scale.

Why do private thoughts matter to you so much? Maybe he hated being around negros and arabs. Maybe a lot of people do. Maybe they don’t like people of Welsh descent, too, and have had bad experiences.

The point is, Elvis was a singer and musician. He’s not a judge. He’s not a politician. Not a psychologist, medical doctor or schoolteacher.

In a free society with freedom of assembly also comes the freedom to avoid if desired. To self-segregate. The problem with liberals today (who I often side with) is they don’t seem to value this freedom.

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[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) 2 years ago

The only reason I asked the question was because I'd just re-listened to Fight the Power, and that lyric always struck me.

FWIW, I don't particularly believe that Elvis was a racist, at least not in the sense of hating Black people, which is how I tend to regard the term. Sure, he appropriated Black culture to become famous in a climate that tended to marginalise Black artists who pioneered that music, but that makes Elvis more of an opportunist and a beneficiary of white privilege, than a racist per se (and thus it's society as a whole, rather than Elvis as an individual, who is arguably to blame).

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[–] strntz (12454) 2 years ago

The question is whether we judge anyone with today's "sensibilities" or judge them within their time.

We live in a time now where a lot of liberals (I don't mean to make this a political subject but it really is) believe than *anyone* white is a racist by DNA.

As the white boy Emerson said: “Your actions speak so loudly, I can not hear what you are saying.” This goes both ways. In the Elvis example, I'd like to know what *actions* he did that are racist, and I will judge them both by today's standards and within the context of the era in which he lived.

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[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) 2 years ago

That's why I'd recommend the article, because, arguably, *even* by the standards of the time Elvis existed, he wasn't a racist. I mean, he *did* apparently play to segregated crowds in Vegas, but then again, so did Harry Belafonte among other Black artists, and no-one doubts the late great Belafonte's commitment to the civil rights movement.

I guess it depends on who you believe, but since the Public Enemy lyric prompted me to ask the question, upon investigation, the evidence for actual racism on Elvis' part seems quite flimsy. I 100% understand why many Black people resent his popularity and success, in view of the type of music that established him, but, once again, that strikes me as more of an indictment of a racist society at large, than on anything Elvis believed or said himself.

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[–] strntz (12454) 2 years ago

Off topic, but a lot of black entertainers at that time disliked Presley and hated Pat Boone (who would blatantly cover black songs and make them big hits). Presley to my recollection actually loved black spirituals, blues, and rock and credited the founders of that music publically.

Regarding segregated clubs, yeah, that happened and it was a thing during those times. One of the things that bothered me about my grandmother's favorite film (Gone With The Wind) is that when Hattie McDaniel (her heroine) was nominated for an Academy Award, Clark Gable wasn't going to attend because McDaniel was going to be separated (good so far), but she convinced him to attend anyway being the classy woman she was. Gable did go but missed the opportunity to make a lasting statement. Would it have hurt his career? Possibly.

Even within the context of those times, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that McDaniel couldn't sit with the rest of the cast because her skin was black.

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