Author Topic: Swing Low is "racist" (Read 4541 times)

Samquin · « **Reply #15 on:** Thursday 18-Jun-2020, 18:55* »

Quote from: BedfordshireBoy on Thursday 18-Jun-2020, 16:43*

I am not sure that Swing Low has anything at all to do with Martin Offiah, it was always sung in the after match revelries when I first started playing club rugby in the early sixties.

I also recall this in the clubhouse from the late 70s. Mind you it also included all the hand gestures.

quinalan · « **Reply #16 on:** Thursday 18-Jun-2020, 19:01* »

i picked Strawberries once, so please no songs about that!

Mayor West · « **Reply #17 on:** Thursday 18-Jun-2020, 19:32* »

Oh no! That’s a Beatles classic gone then.

QuincyJones · « **Reply #18 on:** Thursday 18-Jun-2020, 20:00* »

Quote from: JammyGit on Thursday 18-Jun-2020, 16:32*

Swing Low has been a bone of contention for literally decades. It is SUPER weird that an overwhelmingly white & middle/upper class crowd has been singing a slave song at rugby matches, and even weirder that it was originally sung "in honour" of a black player.

Also: "National Mass Hysteria for BAME virtue signalling"? Come on. Why do you and people like you refuse to accept that these things are genuine?

It's SUPER weird that a song with zero mention of slaves, racist language, or in fact any race in at all should be deemed racist in the slightest. It wasn't written as a racist song, so therefore isn't a racist song.

I heard Hitler once sang Happy Birthday. Disgusting song.

People need to concern themselves with real issues.

MaidstoneQuin · « **Reply #19 on:** Thursday 18-Jun-2020, 20:10* »

Allowing these student union types who identify as apache gunships and prefer the pronoun “they” to have a platform was the thin edge of the wedge. Now we live in a society in everyone is offended by anything.

I’m praying for an asteroid to collide with earth and put me out of my misery

MadMax · « **Reply #20 on:** Thursday 18-Jun-2020, 20:29* »

Oh dear. I have a feeling this thread isn't going to end well.

Or quickly enough.

DOK · « **Reply #21 on:** Thursday 18-Jun-2020, 22:40* »

The song has been sung as a rugby song (complete with gestures) from the year dot. The song sung during an England rugby match is as I said earlier.
See The Metro

The song is believed to have been first used by rugby fans when Martin Offiah was playing at the Middlesex Sevens tournament at Twickenham in 1987. The following year, ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ was sung again towards Chris Oti after he scored a hat trick in England’s win against Ireland.

KiltedQuin · « **Reply #22 on:** Thursday 18-Jun-2020, 23:15* »

Quote from: BedfordshireBoy on Thursday 18-Jun-2020, 16:43*

I am not sure that Swing Low has anything at all to do with Martin Offiah, it was always sung in the after match revelries when I first started playing club rugby in the early sixties.

We sungSwing Low as schoolboys coming back from rugby matches in the late sixties in Scotland so it's not a song that first got used by England at twickenham in the 80s. I've heard it sung in clubhouses all over. England have adopted it and also associated it with Martin Offiah. There seems to be a triumvirate of Swing Low, Chariots Offiah and Jerusalem that has embedded itself into England rugby.

deadlyfrom5yardsout · « **Reply #23 on:** Friday 19-Jun-2020, 09:03* »

Quote from: JammyGit on Thursday 18-Jun-2020, 16:32*

Swing Low has been a bone of contention for literally decades. It is SUPER weird that an overwhelmingly white & middle/upper class crowd has been singing a slave song at rugby matches, and even weirder that it was originally sung "in honour" of a black player.

Also: "National Mass Hysteria for BAME virtue signalling"? Come on. Why do you and people like you refuse to accept that these things are genuine?

Jammy you speak as though you are the BLM warrior on here. For context, my mother came from Naini Tal, Uttarakhand which borders Nepal and China and I myself was born in South Africa. "People like me"?.....Get back in your box.

Domestos · « **Reply #24 on:** Friday 19-Jun-2020, 09:18* »

Quote from: deadlyfrom5yardsout on Friday 19-Jun-2020, 09:03*

Jammy you speak as though you are the BLM warrior on here. For context, my mother came from Naini Tal, Uttarakhand which borders Nepal and China and I myself was born in South Africa. "People like me"?.....Get back in your box.

"I myself". Oh dear.

DazzaS · « **Reply #25 on:** Friday 19-Jun-2020, 09:41* »

Something I never understand is why ethnic minorities is called BAME, emphasising black people have more prominence when according to the last census, 3% of the country is black while 7% is Asian. Surely more should be done for Asian inclusivity?

deadlyfrom5yardsout · « **Reply #26 on:** Friday 19-Jun-2020, 09:51* »

Quote from: Domestos on Friday 19-Jun-2020, 09:18*

"I myself". Oh dear.

The sentence is grammatically correct. Myself - used for emphasis, my own self or person; as I myself will do it; I have done it myself; -- used also instead of me, as the object of the first person of a reflexive verb, without emphasis; as, I will defend myself.19 Sep 2008

Monte · « **Reply #27 on:** Friday 19-Jun-2020, 10:18* »

As Ugo said on Radio 4 with Martin Offiah you cannot stop people singing it. Ugo doesn’t seem that bothered thinks people need educating at school and it will gradually disappear. Matin said when he was in the stands after he stopped playing people looked at him and he was just a bit embarrassed!

JammyGit · « **Reply #28 on:** Friday 19-Jun-2020, 10:58* »

Quote from: deadlyfrom5yardsout on Friday 19-Jun-2020, 09:03*

Jammy you speak as though you are the BLM warrior on here. For context, my mother came from Naini Tal, Uttarakhand which borders Nepal and China and I myself was born in South Africa. "People like me"?.....Get back in your box.

People like you and others who share your views and opinions. People who immediately proclaim that anyone who actually thinks and cares about this stuff is pretending in some way.

I'm not going to bother taking this any further: from the Collin Osborne thread to this one, it's pretty clear that there's a vanishingly small number of people willing to actually think about these things and not just kneejerk into angry defensiveness and dismissal of entire movements as somehow fabricated.

Only Joe Quin · « **Reply #29 on:** Friday 19-Jun-2020, 11:14* »

I don’t know if black people find Swing Low offensive but, if they do, I will forego the pleasure of singing it at Twickers in order to avoid giving offence. If some choose to consider this as virtue signalling, so be it.

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Author Topic: Swing Low is "racist" (Read 4541 times)

Samquin

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quinalan

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Mayor West

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QuincyJones

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MaidstoneQuin

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MadMax

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DOK

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KiltedQuin

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deadlyfrom5yardsout

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Domestos

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DazzaS

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deadlyfrom5yardsout

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Monte

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JammyGit

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Only Joe Quin

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