I wonder what George Washington and the other founding fathers would think about the Hamilton musical? I appreciated Donald Trump’s Tweet against the actor playing Aron Burr in the play “Hamilton”, who pleaded with Vice President Mike Pence to tell the President not to forget to respect minorities in his administration. The real Aron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton, who was George Washington’s friend and Treasury Secretary, in a duel in 1804, because he publicly accused Burr of incest with his daughter, and for destroying Burr’s Presidential election,against Thomas Jefferson. Aron Burr was made Jefferson’s Vice President, by a Congressional vote in a tied election. I can understand Trump’s anger at the actor playing Aron Burr. Trump was offended by his arrogant disrespect and all who booed the Vice President Elect as he entered the theater. Pence shook it off and left the building after the show, without mention if he enjoyed the performance.
There are as many Black Americans as White Americans who have wondered what the “Hamilton”musical was all about, but less than a third of all Americans vote or know who the current Vice President is. Americans regardless of their race, must identify themselves as Americans and take part in elections and show civic responsibility, or they will never be an American. Being white, black or any race , doesn’t make us more or less American. What makes someone less American, is when they disrespect American History, regardless of race or political beliefs . What makes a good American is someone who is proud to be an American. The musical Hamilton is a revisionist musical parody of American History. Aron Burr was shunned, convicted of murder, and sentence for the murder of Alexander Hamilton, and didn’t sing his way to jail or to stardom. Alexander Hamilton wasn’t known for his singing ability, nor did he sing a Hip Hop song on his deathbed.
If white actors portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. or Mohammed Ali, or any black American in History, in a Broadway show, with Rap and Hip Hop music it would be shut down after one show, labeled racist, and every Progressive and Black Lives Matter protester in the country would be threatening the lives of the play’s producer, creator and its entire cast . Vaudeville and Hollywood made Al Jolson famous as a Black Face performer singing minstrel songs of the Old South in painted Black Face playing a banjo and received an Oscar nomination. Today Al Jolson and other famous racist performers are never heard of,and their old movies are censored or destroyed by the studios, since Civil Rights made his and many other movies and performers politically incorrect. However, a Black man portraying a White man as a historical, Vice Presidential character during the time of Slavery in America singing in a Rap song musical, is a sellout, Broadway hit, and visited by a Black President and White Vice President, and granted a Toni Award. There is definitely something wrong with this, but Political Correctness forbids anyone talking about it. If it is right for one race to mock another, but no other can mock them, then that is social injustice, hypocrisy and racism, not holiday entertainment at the theater, for wealthy Liberals, Black celebrities and elites, who can afford the $10,000 dollar ticket price. I wonder if Mike Pence paid to see it, or if he was given a complimentary ticket ?
L.A. Steel
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