Rockettes kick is reminder of who Trump stepped on
Mary Sanchez
Guessing how many Radio City Rockettes will show for the Trump inauguration will be something of a parlor game in the coming weeks.
A sad new day is dawning when such a classic slice of Americana is dragged into the political fray. Members of the famous high-stepping troupe are no longer under orders to perform for the president-elect. The choice will be voluntary.
Or so goes the about-face from the Rockettes’ union, the American Guild of Variety Artists.
Just before Christmas, members of the Rockettes joined the growing list of professional entertainers who have declined a role in the inaugural festivities for President-elect Donald Trump. Reportedly, a majority of the nearly 100-woman ensemble were repulsed upon learning that management had booked them for the Jan. 20 event.
One Rockette spoke at length with MarieClaire. com.
“This is not a Republican or Democrat issue — this is a women’s rights issue,” the woman, who was quoted anonymously, said. “This is an issue of racism and sexism, something that’s much bigger than politics.”
This is a workplace issue. The 13 full-time dancers, in particular, know their jobs may be on the line.
For the rest of us, this saga is a taste of the next four years. When and how will it be appropriate or pragmatic to react to the latest Trump offense or to recall his heinous rhetoric?
A tenor of the Trump administration is already on full display. His crazy becomes the norm that everyone else accepts.
Thus, many Americans are behaving like families do around a member who is a volatile alcoholic or addict. They walk on eggshells. Better just learn to live amid the dysfunction, they decide.
The problem is it tends to make people complicit, co-dependent.
We see a parade of business, military and political leaders march into Trump Tower and Mar-aLago to genuflect. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Amazon and Apple have been represented, along with past political rivals. Others, like Bill Gates, have apparently spoken with Trump by phone.
You can’t fault them for trying to take a measure of the man.
But one suspects their audiences with Trump are all about kissing his ring, because the man will do as he pleases.
The Rockettes drama may seem trivial compared to the other items of the news cycle. Yet this may turn out to be an object lesson about preserving our core democratic values in the face of power. The office of the presidency is due respect, but we must also demand respect for everyone the incoming president maligned to get elected. Maybe it takes a chorus line to remind us.
Trump’s own words indict him.
His behavior is the very pattern and practice of sexism. No sane human resources director would countenance compelling a female employee to work for such a man. And yet the Rockettes are expected to dance.
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable standing near a man like that in our costumes,” one dancer wrote in an email to her colleagues, according to MarieClaire. com.
Thank you, ladies. Without even stepping on stage, you offered a well-timed reminder of one of the major challenges we face in the coming four years: ensuring dignity for all.
The applause is deservedly yours.