South Pacific Archives - The Race Card Project

Faces: University, Prisons. Not the same.

January 17, 2022January 17, 2022 1965, anonymous, faces, Lincoln, Native Studies, NE, prison, same, South Pacific, teacher, University, University of Nebraska, unprogram, white faces

Anonymous,
Lincoln, NE.

I teach Native Studies (among other things) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and I volunteer with the Native groups in the state prison system. Walking across the quad I see mostly white faces– walking across the yard not so much. Makes me sad. And mad.

Also wanted to comment on your “South Pacific” segment. I memorized that show in 1965 when I was in the pit orchestra for the high school musical. Always thought it was a bit of a copout that Lt. Cable gets killed and doesn’t really have to face bringing a Polynesian war bride back to “Philadelphia. PA” and dumping the “blue-eyed kid” to whom he was engaged. Would his “uncle and dad make me part of the partnership of Cable, Cable, and Cable”? It’d be a lot easier if we were “carefully taught”–then we could just be untaught. But what about the white privilege implied by “Princeton, NJ” and its comfortable replication that is never challenged till war introduces one to “coconut palms and banyan trees and coral sands and Tonkonese”? I’ts much harder to unprogram things one takes for granted than things one was carefully taught.

Ignorance of history, convenient or willful?

June 28, 2021September 25, 2025 1970's, 2006, Emily Green-Cain, Eyes on the Prize, history, ignorant, James Lawson, Nashville, South Pacific, TN

Emily Green-Cain,
Nashville, TN.

I grew up in the city where James Lawson led teach-ins for non-violence that led to sit-ins throughout the Southeast. No one in my schooling, neither my parents, my church or the local education system taught me anything about these events. I did not know the specifics of what happened here until the series “Eyes on the Prize” did an episode on the Nashville sit-ins in 2006. Is not sharing the pain and difficulties of recent history convenient for the white community who still holds the power to make it invisible? Or is it a willful act to keep their children in the dark about what really happened? Now, the Nashville Public Library has a civil rights room that teaches the historic struggle…I wish it had been there in the 1970’s when I grew up.

You’ve got to be carefully taught

May 16, 2014June 19, 2014 Guthrie, Kathleen Z., Minneapolis, MN, South Pacific, You've got to be carefully taught.

Kathleen Z.
Minneapolis, MN

I enjoyed your talk at the Guthrie so much. I listened to it again yesterday and was disappointed the man from Birmingham who was at the church explosion didn’t get on the edited broadcast! Here are my six words from SOUTH PACIFIC:
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

Here are the rest:

You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year,
It’s got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff’rent shade,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You’ve got to be carefully taught!

I was fortunate to grow up in a home (born in 1940) in St. Paul where we were NOT taught to hate. Maybe it had something to do with all my German grandparents who may have experienced prejudice against them during the war. I have a friend who wasn’t so fortunate. Her parents were Japanese and they were “corralled” during the war. I guess they didn’t look enough like “us” as the Germans did…

You Have To Be Carefully Taught

April 16, 2014May 16, 2014 Alaska, Hagerstown, Juneau, Leigh Slater, Maryland, MD, School USA, South Pacific, USA, You have to be carefully taught

Leigh Slater
Hagerstown, MD

We are not born hating people who are different from ourselves. Like the song from South Pacific says, hatred is taught, not innate.

You can’t be friends with her

January 16, 2014August 18, 2020 1960's, first experience, friends, Japanese, neighbor, Rogers & Hammerstein, South Pacific, You've got to be carefully taught.

Rosie W.
Tucson, AZ

When I was in the third grade in the sixties, my best friend and neighbor was Joyce, who was Japanese. She was wonderful. When my mother found out, she let me know, albeit gently and with compassion, that my father would be terribly hurt by my friendship because he had fought the Japanese in WWII and was wounded. I was confused, angry, mystified, outraged – but I deferred and dropped her. I am so sorry Joyce, wherever you are.

Rogers & Hammerstein: “You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear, you’ve got to be taught from year to year, it’s got to be drummed in their dear little ears, you’ve got to be carefully taught…to hate all the people your relatives hate….”

I thought we’d got further than this.

Apropos of the ‘subconscious racist’ quote.

December 16, 2013May 21, 2014 AR, hate, Little Rock, Margaret Middleton, Rogers & Hammerstein, South Pacific, subconscious racist, You've got to be carefully taught.

Margaret Middleton
Little Rock, AR

Lyric by Oscar Hammerstein, from “South Pacific”.

You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late, Before you are six or seven or eight To hate all the people your relatives hate, You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be carefully taught.

October 16, 2013September 3, 2019 IN, South Bend, South Pacific, Steven Chung, taught, You've got to be carefully taught.

Steven Chung
South Bend, IN

You’ve got to be carefully taught.

August 1, 2013May 16, 2014 Lee Augustine, Rogers & Hammerstein, South Pacific, Wawarsing, WY, You've got to be carefully taught.

Lee Augustine
Wawarsing, WY

This is from South Pacific.

You have to be carefully taught

May 16, 2013September 15, 2014 East Lansing, Jennifer Woods, MI, South Pacific, You've got to be carefully taught.

Jennifer Woods
East Lansing, MI

You’ve got to be carefully taught.

May 16, 2012May 16, 2014 Claire Rosenbaum, Cumberland, RI, South Pacific, You've got to be carefully taught.

Claire Rosenbaum
Cumberland, RI

You’ve got to be carefully taught

April 16, 2012May 16, 2014 Charlotte, natural instinct, NC, racism, Rogers & Hammerstein, South Pacific, You've got to be carefully taught.

Katherine
Charlotte, NC

When I heard this line in the play “South Pacific” 50 years ago, I realized racism was not a natural instinct.

You have got to be taught

March 31, 2012March 31, 2012 AR, eight, hate, Little Rock, Margaret Middleton, NPR, Oscar Hammerstein, racisit, seven, six, South Pacific, Talk of the Nation, taught

Margaret Middleton
Little Rock, AR
Submitted via NPR’s Talk of the Nation

Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, from “South Pacific”:
Apropos of the ‘subconscious racist’ quote.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late, Before you are six or seven or eight To hate all the people your relatives hate, You’ve got to be carefully taught.

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