Zoot Suit Riot- by Cherry Poppin Daddies (excerpt)
Who's that whisperin' in the trees?
It's two sailors and they're on leave
Pipes and chains and swingin' hands
Who's your daddy? Yes I am
Fat cat came to play
Now he can't run fast enough
You'd best stay away
When the pushers come to shove
Zoot suit riot
throw back a bottle of beer
Zoot suit riot
Pull a comb through your coal black hair
A whipped up jitterbuggin' brown eyed man
A stray cat frontin' up an eight-piece band
Cut me Sammy and you'll understand
In my veins hot music ran
You got me in a sway
and I want to swing you done
Now you sailors know
Where your women come for love
While reading the Zoot article this week - I could not help but hear this song over and over in my head. It came out in elementary school for most of it but was very popular and widely played. When I googled the band however, I learned that this band out of the Northwest was very controversial and during many of their shows there were boycotts, protests and even bomb threats! These were due to accusations of pornography in their performances, misogyny, and sexism. Interestingly enough, it was harder to find accusations of racism, which is blatantly obvious if you watch the video.
If you read the lyrics, the song seems to be coming from the standpoint of the zoot suits. "now you sailors know where your women come for love" and "who's that whispering in the trees- its two sailors and they're on leave." However, if you watch the video, EVERYONE is white - the dancers, the singers, and the women. If Cherry Poppin Daddies is trying to embody the role of the zoot suitors and show the environment of that time in their video, what kind of statement are they making by portraying everyone as white? By reclaiming this part of history that is historical colored, he is in effect, "whiting" it out. The band was not the only one. During this time of the 90's, swing dance came back into the scene full force. However, most of these troops were predominantly white. Communities were appropriating the style to fit their needs, and ignoring the complicated and racial history that was previously attached to it. What do you think are the implications of white communities reviving previously racialized histories and appropriating it into pop culture without the racial backgrounds attached?
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I think this is a great example of how the enjoyable nature of pop music makes it incredibly easy to consume an entirely white agenda. I remember listening to--and loving--this song when I was about ten. Hearing it so many years later, I can still appreciate the catchy tune, but I am so disturbed by the insensitive re-appropriation of the minority zoot suit culture into a scary white music video. The video does not acknowledge in any way the significance of the zoot suit, it simply steals a cultural history that does not belong to the white community. This presentation of zoot culture eliminates the historical significance of non-white racial groups and therefore perpetuates a system of white dominance through pop culture.
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