There used to be a show on TV that was all about a bunch of people singing and dancing. Decent singing. The thing was, the men painted their faces black to perform. There is a good write up here. The show was one of the most popular on TV and won international awards. The album of the show was at number one for three consecutive years. It would be hard to imagine the show today.
What would be even harder to imagine would be turning up at a BLM march and painting your face black to show solidarity.
Gay pride marches have not happened in many places this year. I always feel uneasy about them. Several friends (most of them are not gay, I think) take part in them regularly, and often dress in gay colours. I have some gay friends that would not be seen dead dressed like that. I wonder if the gay pride marches of today will be tomorrows black and white minstrel show.
For marches that are primarily about being true to yourself there are a lot of people being something else (their image of what a gay person looks like). Wouldn’t it be better for those of us that are not gay to be honest to what we are?
As Polonius says in Hamlet (and yes I know it has two meanings):
This above all: to thine own self be true,
Act 1 Scene 3. Hamlet. William Shakespeare
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
BTW I quite like the Danny DeVito version of this:
Too many people have not learned how to navigate their own lives, and get diverted by the prevailing wind of the day as a result.