Just after Christmas I listening to music from my iPod, and the Schoolhouse Rock song "The Great American Melting Pot"[1] started playing.
As I listened to it, I started to cry. I hadn't heard the song since the election, and lyrics like "it doesn't matter what your skin" and "so any kid can be the President" really mean something for the first time since I first encountered the song as a kid.
[1] Yes, I know there are huge issues of cultural assimilation/expectation there, but for a kids TV song from the 1970s it's still pretty progressive. Schoolhouse Rock is generally ahead of its time; the major exception is "Elbow Room", which is whole-heartedly in favor of "Manifest Destiny" and ignores little details like the dispossession of Native Americans. (Bletch.)
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Date: 2009-01-15 03:39 pm (UTC)As I listened to it, I started to cry. I hadn't heard the song since the election, and lyrics like "it doesn't matter what your skin" and "so any kid can be the President" really mean something for the first time since I first encountered the song as a kid.
[1] Yes, I know there are huge issues of cultural assimilation/expectation there, but for a kids TV song from the 1970s it's still pretty progressive. Schoolhouse Rock is generally ahead of its time; the major exception is "Elbow Room", which is whole-heartedly in favor of "Manifest Destiny" and ignores little details like the dispossession of Native Americans. (Bletch.)