Yo so Elvis wasn’t a racist?????

Professor Emeritus

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This is an interesting thread. I legit just always assumed Elvis was a racist who didn't give a shyt about the Black community he had jacked his style from. Made me do a deeper dive.



How Sway? said:
where'd that rumor even come from anyway?
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Opinion | How Did Elvis Get Turned Into a Racist? (Published 2007)

Elvis Presley and Racism - 2006 - Question of the Month - Jim Crow Museum - Ferris State University

Did Elvis Presley Really Say This About Black People? | Snopes.com

Among the people who know Presley is Dr. W.A. Zuber in the singer’s hometown of Tupelo, Mississippi. Says he: “I knew him when he was a kid. He used to play his guitar and go around with quartets and to Negro ‘sanctified’ meetings. He lived near the colored section, and people around here say he’s one of the nicest boys they ever knew. He just doesn’t impress me as the type of person who would say something like that.”

Another man who knows Presley is Los Angeles pianist Dudley Brooks, who is Presley’s accompanist on records and for two of his movies. Brooks, describing Presley as “a helluva nice guy,” declared: “he faces everybody as a man … I never heard of the remark, but even so I can’t imagine Presley saying that, not knowing him the way I do.”
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When asked if he ever made the remark, Mississippi-born Elvis declared: “I never said anything like that, and people who know me know I wouldn’t have said it.”
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After his investigation, Robinson concluded, "To Elvis people are people, regardless of race, color or creed." Black performers from the time who knew him reject the rumor. "I would never think that Elvis Presley was a racist," said Rhythm and Blues singer Darlene Love, who sang background for him as part of the Blossoms.
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Sepia also included an editorial by the Rev. Milton Perry, an African American minister from Jersey City, New Jersey. Perry solicited the opinions of black and white Memphians on the subject of Elvis Presley. “I found,” he concluded, “than an overwhelming majority of people who know him speak of this boy as a boy who practices humility and a love for racial harmony. I learned that he is not too proud or important to speak to anyone and to spend time with his fans of whatever color, whenever and wherever they approach him.”
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Elvis not only attended "sanctified meetings" in African American churches -- where he was influenced by Gospel music and Slave Spirituals -- but he listened to and was shaped by Black "secular" music, especially the Blues. Presley regularly paid homage to his "Black roots" and claimed "he could never hope to equal the musical achievements of Fats Domino or the Inkspot's Bill Kenny," but this did not satisfy people who believed that Presley's status as a musical and cultural icon was due, in no small part, to his white skin. He was resented for "covering" the songs of Black singers -- and for getting the acclaim that was denied to African American performers.
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Looks like the accusations mostly came because:

1) He was a white boy from a notoriously racist part of Mississippi, so it was assumed he'd be racist

2) He was achieving far more fame than the Black performers he had learned his style (and often songs) from had ever achieved
 
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Peter Parker

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cheek100 said:
Word? :wtf:
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Chuck D Speaks on Elvis' Legacy

I’m sorry he didn’t necessarily apologize but changed his stance a bit

side bar
As for whether there is a modern-day Elvis, Chuck D points to Eminem.



``Eminem is the new Elvis because, number one, he had the respect for black music that Elvis had,″ Chuck D said. ``I think he’s courteous and sympathetic to black music, and, unfortunately, he’s more sympathetic to black music than many black artists themselves.″
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:wtf: why would chuck say that smh?
 
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