Hail, Pomona, Hail

I just got an email from the President of my college. Apparently, our college Alma Mater or "song" was suspended last year because "our Alma Mater, Hail, Pomona, Hail, might have been written for a blackface minstrel show." Someone did the research and came up with no conclusive evidence...and a committee recommended the song be replaced. Yes, that's right, replace the song because of the mere possibility it was written for something we now deem offensive.

In response, the Pomona President wrote:

My decision to confirm the status of Hail, Pomona, Hail as our Alma Mater, rather than replacing it, is based upon a conviction that traditions—like people—should be judged on their merits, not on the basis of historical associations unconnected to their actual character. All are agreed that there is no harmful meaning in either the words or the music of Hail, Pomona, Hail. The question is whether the context of its possible first performance should be determinative.

Three things concern me here. First, there is the inconclusive nature of the evidence. While research conducted by two students and an alumna taught us much about the minstrel show that took place here in 1909–10, it also revealed that the evidence for a connection between that event and Hail, Pomona, Hail is contradictory and open to interpretation. Second, there is the troubling idea that all things associated with an imperfect past should be considered tainted even if there is nothing inherently objectionable about them. And finally, there is the false sense of closure provided by getting rid of something so that we no longer need to talk about the issue that it calls to mind. The Alma Mater still has things to teach us, and the people who cherish it should not be constrained in any way from honoring it.

I applaud the President's decision and moreso, his logic. Two years ago, the whole spectacle would have angered me more...as another piece of this inconstant PC movement. But I can't sit here and pretend to care much about the Pomona song. I didn't know the lyrics then and don't know the lyrics now. I can't remember singing the song. The one thing I remember about the song was when a family friend learned I was attending Pomona he said to me: they have a quite beautiful Alma Mater...Hail, Pomona, Hail. And he even sang a few verses.

In that spirit, I'd like to make a point - If I can fully admit to not much caring or knowing about my college song - can the people who took offense to it's origins also admit to not much caring about whether it was conceived as part of a minstrel show. I mean, seriously folks, who born in the past 50 years has been hurt or offended by a minstrel show? Who would honestly know what a minstrel show was - except for the fact it's used as evidence of racism or anti-PCism? Why is this such an "offensive" thing to effete liberal culture? Aren't holocaust movies almost by definition more offensive? I mean, Hollywood movies are telling visual stories for profit and using one of the grossest episodes in human history ad nauseum for this purpose seems to me, much more offensive - and widespread. Doesn't mean I don't watch Holocaust movies. I do. Anyhow, point made.