Treading carefully on parade
You wouldn’t want to parade on tippytoe, making each step a matter of exquisite delicacy for fear of detonating virtual landmines of PC offence, lurking just under the surface.
The other extreme is no good either. That’s the one where a parade could be undertaken with heavily-shod disregard for absolutely anything you might be trampling underfoot.
Failures on both counts have occurred in recent weeks; terrible calls by parade organisers and participants.
The Auckland Pride organisers who decided to close ranks against the participation of police in uniform have sent out a clear message which, regrettably, is more repellent than inclusive. Sponsors have fled as a result but, far worse than that, the greater part of the Pride community feels sorely misrepresented by such exclusive thinking.
Then a Lions parade float in Hawera featured people in blackface. The participants and organisers say it was never intended to send any racist message. This is most likely true. They didn’t realise how provocative they were being.
Not that this gets them off the hook. There’s a legitimate caution here. Their surprise, now professed, highlights the perils of careless nostalgia.
If any warning lights went off in the back of their minds, they were only little twinkly ones indicating that some precious snowflake types may be aggrieved. The reality that has been brought home to them with some emphasis is that blackface now causes mainstream distaste.
Then there’s the use of Confederate flags on the Redneck-themed Richmond Christmas parade.
This time the provocation was surely intended. Nobody can deny that the flag is in harmony with the chosen theme. Even if the users were associating it with fairly benign cultural use – say, flag atop the car christened the General Lee in the lighthearted Dukes of Hazzard TV series – the fact remains that it speaks of an American Civil War heritage, signifying pride to some, but the shameful embrace of slavery to others.
Over time it has become a favoured symbol for some internal American terrorists. Whether his was a misappropriation or a revelatory acknowledgement of the flag’s true cultural meaning is among the many things that the US is divided upon. It’s not something to be banned here, but there’s ample reason to be unimpressed to see it on parade.
Rednecks have their rights just as much as the Pride community does. So we might scowlingly call this a fair call by the parade organisers.
Finally, there’s just silliness of the sort that emerges from reports that the man has filled the central role in the Auckland Santa Parade for five years, Neville Barker, has lost his position for saying he would not hire a woman to play the role.
Gender identity is itself becoming an increasing cause for contention and some might find it valid, or at least tempting, perhaps (dare we say) jolly to point out that we’re going to be taking a revisionist view of the acceptability of blackface and the Confederate flag, then why not require Santa traditionalists to suck it up too? Fact is, whether or not we’re headed that aways we’re just not there yet.
Rednecks have their rights just as much as the Pride community does. So we might scowlingly call this a fair call by the parade organisers.