As a parent, you love to hear your child sing. It can also be a great experience for the children as they get to sing together with other children and have their parents hear them. This is the case during school when the children get together in the choir and sing as part of a school concert.
However, the song this time had too much of an offensive history and past that is still troubling to many. The song in question is Cotton Needs Pickin´. Plus, before the concert, a few students decided to erect a confederate flag within the same school district. Unfortunately, the timing could not be any good for everyone as the song coupled with the flag was the last draw that made the parents outraged and ultimately walk out while their children sang. The incident went viral quickly on social media and left many others distraught.
It was believed by some that the song was racially intended. This is due to the joyful endeavor of picking cotton while slavery was celebrated at the time. Besides the parents of the children, their friends also felt the same as they listened in shock through social media. It was believed that the teachers behind the concert decided to cause trouble within the community that showed white supremacy support. According to the school district superintendent Matt Geha, he was in total disagreement.
He denied the fact that the song was racially charged as many have been led to believe. In fact, the song was one that got picked out of a folk song songbook. Also, he let it be known that no formal complaints were forwarded to him or other school officials as a result of the concert song. Geha was actually shocked by the number of complaints made via social media shortly after the video went viral. The superintendent defended the song choice by saying it had historical value that is also a part of the school´s required curriculum for choir.
Although many parents did not believe the excuse for the song, many believe that the superintendent blamed the curriculum for the song choice. Regardless of what is believed for it, many believe that the timing was poor due to the high amount of racially charged events that have already occurred community-wide. Not only that but with the hoisting of the confederate flag, another incident happened where several individuals decided to pose with the flag.
The kids who were seen posing with the confederate flag were also the same ones who had made individual videos while utilizing slurs that are racially provoking. Knowing that the community has been going through a lot of racial tension, singing the song Cotton Needs Pickin´should not have been a choice of song to sing. This also means the song only brought more tension to the community. No matter what the true purpose of it was, there is no denying that the singing caused more tension than what was needed and actually caused more. This means there may never be an end to racial discord.
