A school in New York had planned on putting on a Tarzan play, but 2 parents complained it was racist so it’s done. Bowing to pressure from almost no one, the school cancelled the production proving that bitching about silly stuff gets results. This was actually going to be a live-action adaptation of Disney’s Tarzan, which is the most uncontroversial thing possible, but hey, racism and whatnot.
The New York Post reports:
Tarzan just got canceled in Westchester.
Administrators at a high school in Elmsford are nixing a student play based on the famed Edgar Rice Burroughs story after two parents complained that the beloved tale is laced with implicit racism and imperialism.
Now get ready for why these two parents think Tarzan is racist:
The Alexander Hamilton High School parents were especially worried that the roles of apes in the production might be cast with students of color, superintendent Marc Baiocco said.
Gee, that kind of sounds like the parents are racist not Tarzan, doesn’t it? They are assuming black students would play apes because they think black people resemble apes. The school should have canceled these 2 racist parents and left the Tarzan production intact.
“Some members of our school community had expressed concerns over the racial undertones of the source material, and the district agreed to reconsider the choice,” said the superintendent.
Because he’s a complete douche, the superintendent was glad that 2 racists parents complained before the school almost put on a perfectly fine play.
“We are grateful to those who felt comfortable enough to share their concerns as we strive to be an inclusive district which fosters an environment of communication and understanding,” the superintendent said.
This wasn’t a matter of being comfortable, these two parents are uptight, which is the complete opposite of comfort.
Couldn’t they just have agreed to only cast non-black students as apes? Well, apparently there was also some concern about racial integration. This bright young 16-year-old student explains:
“Tarzan takes place in Africa and a white man is the king of the jungle. That’s where the problem is,” said student Janan Chrisitian.
So white people aren’t allowed to mix with black people in Africa? This segregationist view also seems very racist.
Plus there was some concern over colonialism:
Critics in the modern era believe Tarzan’s life in the jungle represents the negative side of colonialism and has no place in a post-colonial world.
Do these people even know the story of Tarzan? John Clayton II (Tarzan) and his family were marooned in Africa after mutineers threw them ashore. Tarzan’s parents were then killed by apes and another group of apes raised him. He didn’t colonize Africa and when given the chance to return to civilization, he chose to stay in the jungle and live among the animals.
Not racism. Not colonialism.
The correct course of action here would have been to tell these two parents they are stupid, but people are so nervous about being accused of racism that they’ll cave to this kind of ridiculousness every single time.
For the record, instead of Tarzan the school will now performing a musical version of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Wait till they find out that play involves a girl disguising herself as a boy. The LGBT community will be all over this “transphobic” outrage.
