By Solomon Jones April 22, 2019
The Sixers took a three-to-one lead in their playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets this weekend, but that’s not the day’s biggest sports story. That honor goes to the Philadelphia Flyers, who’ve decided to cut ties with their good luck charm — the late singer Kate Smith.
Turns out Smith, whose version of “God Bless America” was often played before Flyers games, spent a portion of her early career singing racist songs. One of those tunes, “That’s Why Darkies Were Born,” begins this way:
“Someone had to pick the cotton. Someone had to pick the corn. Someone had to slave and be able to sing. That’s why darkies were born.”
This song and others were from the 1930s, but the Flyers are cutting ties with Smith anyway. Not only will they stop playing her version of “God Bless America” at their games. They also removed a statue of Smith from the South Philadelphia sports complex. The Flyers took decisive action based on principle, and I’m left to wonder why the City of Philadelphia can’t do the same.
Watching the Flyers rid themselves of Kate Smith’s racial baggage in a period of two days places a spotlight firmly on Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, who promised in 2017 to move the statue of former mayor and police commissioner Frank Rizzo from Paine Plaza, the courtyard in front of the Municipal Services Building. That’s public property.
Rizzo, you may remember, was police commissioner and mayor of the City of Philadelphia, and ran a police department that engaged in a pattern of police brutality so pervasive that the FBI said it “shocked the conscience.” Read More:
The Sixers took a three-to-one lead in their playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets this weekend, but that’s not the day’s biggest sports story. That honor goes to the Philadelphia Flyers, who’ve decided to cut ties with their good luck charm — the late singer Kate Smith.
Turns out Smith, whose version of “God Bless America” was often played before Flyers games, spent a portion of her early career singing racist songs. One of those tunes, “That’s Why Darkies Were Born,” begins this way:
“Someone had to pick the cotton. Someone had to pick the corn. Someone had to slave and be able to sing. That’s why darkies were born.”
This song and others were from the 1930s, but the Flyers are cutting ties with Smith anyway. Not only will they stop playing her version of “God Bless America” at their games. They also removed a statue of Smith from the South Philadelphia sports complex. The Flyers took decisive action based on principle, and I’m left to wonder why the City of Philadelphia can’t do the same.
Watching the Flyers rid themselves of Kate Smith’s racial baggage in a period of two days places a spotlight firmly on Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, who promised in 2017 to move the statue of former mayor and police commissioner Frank Rizzo from Paine Plaza, the courtyard in front of the Municipal Services Building. That’s public property.
Rizzo, you may remember, was police commissioner and mayor of the City of Philadelphia, and ran a police department that engaged in a pattern of police brutality so pervasive that the FBI said it “shocked the conscience.” Read More:
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