Sunday 24 January 2016

Panto and Prejudice


I love village pantomimes. It's great to see the children taking part, and to hear all the young voices yelling out from the audience.  It's comical to see the pantomime dame trying hard to convey that he would never normally enjoy drag, even as he minces limp-wristed around the stage. It's awesome to see the talent that you'd never suspect producing wonderful performances and some truly excellent scenery and costumes.

So it was disappointing to come away from our local panto feeling uncomfortable and guilty.

You see, the baddie had an ally who was just as black-hearted as he was, and the villain was a Gypsy. Well, I'm all for equality - why not a Gypsy?  What made me feel uncomfortable was the racist stereotyping that all those happy young people might take away with them as possibly the only thing anyone had ever told them about Gypsies. The brewing up of poisons was one example.  The stealing of fair-haired children was another.

What would you have done?  What would Jesus have done?  I felt it was wrong to just be silent, but probably hugely counter-productive to make a fuss.

When the organist played "The Old Rugged Cross" in church this morning, I thought it was possibly a little nod towards the spirituality of the Romani people, and was momentarily comforted. But when I asked him, it was in fact a memory of a Billy Graham crusade.

So what do I do now?  All suggestions gratefully received. What God has to say about it was displayed in the cathedral when I got my Permission To Officiate.  God is on the side of freedom and justice. The reading this morning reinforced that. But just being FROG (fully reliant on God) feels a bit like just standing by. We can't just turn a blind eye. Can we?  Again?

2 comments:

WILLIE...! =(^..^)= said...

Goodness Me! I was sitting here quietly, looking
through some local Blogs..When! Hello! Do l see
'The Old Rugged Cross' mentioned...!
I popped downstairs, went to my 'OLD' record collection,
and pulled out a copy of 'The Old Rugged Cross' from 1975,
sung by Etna Campbell..Can you hear it in the background...! :).
Love the old Gospel music to...! Fantastic...!

The Gypsy question..? Well..As half my family are Sicilian, actually,
l'm 90% Sicilian..10% English...(True)..! My Sicilian family go way back.
In the 1920's in the early history of Sicily, people lived more in poverty,
lived off the land, what they could catch and grow, and, yes, even beg!
But! I'm proud of my history..still live the life of a Sicilian!
For me..there's no other way! And, l was a single parent for 14yrs, and,
raised my daughter the same way!
God Bless!


Unknown said...

Difficult one . I would be upset. I would try not to spoil the show for the children but i would be seeking out the organizers for an explanation as to why they would choose a Gypsy to be a Nasty person.I would be asking them if they were aware of the prejudices and discrimination that Gypsies and many other ethnic minorities face because of the stereo typing by the settled community and the Media. I would ask for an invite to their next meeting so that i could give the organizers an insight to how local GTR families are affected by such events. Yes one could say well why not a Gypsy there are good and bad in all, but then again why not a Muslim ,then again i would say these people are also facing widespread prejudice because some of their community are not as good as the majority of this ethnic group. People in some kind of authority have to take responsibility for anything that involves the general public. I would ask them to think seriously before making any ethnic minority the villain of the piece,something which they may see as a bit of fun but as many odf us know it can have a lasting effect on some innocent Romany Gypsy Travellers. As we now say in Traveller circles. "Dont get Mad, Get litigating."