Yes. In the same era, I learned--not from my parents--to say, "I like all kinds of music except rap and country," and when I was a little bit older I realized that what I had been taught to say was, 1. I will not make you nervous about the race lines in America and 2. you needn't worry about my class status, I am solidly middle-class.
No one was ever going to mistake me for Black, but I cried when I realized that the country half of this was me effectively being taught by peers and other people's parents to say "please do not mistake me for my own cousins, I am better than them." It still makes me tear up. I do like all kinds of music, but my environment wanted me to repudiate Johnny and Dolly and Salt N Pepa, and this I will no longer do, ever.
I can absolutely see how "Go Ahead in the Rain" fits with "Once in a Lifetime," and I only wish it had sooner.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2022-06-02 12:06 pm (UTC)No one was ever going to mistake me for Black, but I cried when I realized that the country half of this was me effectively being taught by peers and other people's parents to say "please do not mistake me for my own cousins, I am better than them." It still makes me tear up. I do like all kinds of music, but my environment wanted me to repudiate Johnny and Dolly and Salt N Pepa, and this I will no longer do, ever.
I can absolutely see how "Go Ahead in the Rain" fits with "Once in a Lifetime," and I only wish it had sooner.