‘I know Elvis was a racist’

A few years ago on some live VH1 show, Mary J. Blige sang the Carl Perkins song that Elvis made famous: “Blue Suede Shoes.” Afterward, she felt compelled to apologize to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I prayed about it because I know Elvis was a racist. But that was just a song VH1 asked me to sing. It meant nothing to me. I didn’t wear an Elvis flag. I didn’t represent Elvis that day. I was just doing my job like everybody else.”

Some arguments never die. A 1957 magazine article (aimed at black readers) began this way:

As one of the most-debated subjects in the land, Elvis Presley arouses white-heat discussion everywhere. But among Negroes, the controversy over Elvis is even more explosive than among whites. Colored opinion about the hydromatic-hipped hillbilly from Mississippi runs the gamut from caustic condemnation to ardent admiration.

Some Negroes are unable to forget that Elvis was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, home town of the foremost Dixie race baiter, former Congressman Jon Rankin. Others believe a rumored crack by Elvis during a Boston appearance in which he is alleged to have said: “The only thing Negroes can do for me is shine my shoes and buy my records.”

According to Peter Guralnick, in today’s New York Times, there was no Boston appearance and Elvis said no such thing.

So why didn’t the rumor die? Why did it continue to find common acceptance up to, and past, the point that Chuck D of Public Enemy could declare in 1990, “Elvis was a hero to most . . . straight-up racist that sucker was, simple and plain”?

Chuck D has long since repudiated that view for a more nuanced one of cultural history, but the reason for the rumor’s durability, the unassailable logic behind its common acceptance within the black community rests quite simply on the social inequities that have persisted to this day, the fact that we live in a society that is no more perfectly democratic today than it was 50 years ago. As Chuck D perceptively observes, what does it mean, within this context, for Elvis to be hailed as “king,” if Elvis’s enthronement obscures the striving, the aspirations and achievements of so many others who provided him with inspiration?

Read the full piece here. And more here.

Comments

[sandra m]

After Elvis Presley's death, his legacy has been shaped in ways that distort history. First, he was not the co-founder of what came to known as rock 'n roll. Media continually mentions his name in the same sentence as the likes of Ike Turner, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Fats Domino. Yet, those black pioneers were already established by the time Elvis Presley came on the scene. Second, Elvis was not the race unifier he's portrayed as. Notwithstanding his collaboration with a few black artists, Elvis played in segregated venues. That's the way it was in the South. But, black musicians saw something else happen at their concerts. As Little Richard recalled, white fans tore through the ropes that separated them and climbed down from their "special" section to be where the action was-with the black kids. Those moments were cited by the NAACP as being just as instrumental as marches and demonstrations in dismantling segregation. But, there was no race mixing at Elvis Presley concerts. Indeed, footage from those concerts show no blacks in the audience. And, if somebody shows me one, he'll be there courtesy of Photoshop.

[grace brooks]

Elvis is my 4th cousin and you are a lier!

[Hunter]

everybody knows he was a racist just like all the whites from the deep south.

People stop trying to make him a saint good looking yes but still a bloody racist.

[Hunter]

“The only thing Negroes can do for me is shine my shoes and buy my records.

what about elvis freinds like muhammad ali jackie wilson james brown sammy davis roy hamilton sweet inspiration rufus thomas bill cosby

[Allen]

There's a mountain of Elvis quotes praising the black musicians who gave birth to the music he played. He was an unpretentious, simple kid from the American South who respected the people who were part of his life, and showed him the beauty of music. That one solitary quote was disproven BY A BLACK MAGAZINE, "JET."

[elvislover5]

Elvis was no racist!!!! that was a lie made up by someone jealous..he is the greatest entertainer in history...and the LIES about him wont take that away!!!!!RIP Elvis...your fans have your back!!!!