What’s dividing us and poisoning our culture?

Oh, I don’t know, possibly something like this: Singer/songwriter “Muni Long” recently posted a video clip on Instagram in which she adamantly touted her refusal to write songs for “non-melanated” artists.

The “artist,” whose real name is Priscilla Renea Hamilton, stated that a high-ranking executive at Atlantic Records suggested that she write soul music for non-black performers. Long ranted: “Me to the president of Atlantic asking me to write ‘soulful’ songs for non-melanated artists. ‘F**k no! And imma stand on that!’” Sadly, though I couldn’t pick her out in a crowd of two, Long is apparently a Grammy-winning star.

If Long doesn’t want to write songs for non-blacks, she should understand if the non-melanated don’t want to attend her shows. And if Caucasians don’t want to work for her. Or wait on her in restaurants. Etc., etc., etc. What if the non-melanated don’t wish to sing for a black audience? Or Asians don’t want to cook for Native Americans? Or Capricorns don’t want to cut the hair of a Mexican? Or Catholics don’t wish to operate on a gay person? Or vice-versa? What if a comic doesn’t want to tell jokes to an audience of darker-skinned people? What if a grocer refuses to sell food to someone/anyone because of their skin color?” What if …well, you get the idea. Unbridled diversity is a recipe for strife in the best of cases. When race and sexual/gender identity are as relentlessly and needlessly emphasized as they are in a nation as diverse as modern-day America, that nation can be essentially destroyed in no time flat.

Are identity politics and intersectionality good ideas? 

“Bleep no! And imma stand on that!”

Image: Amber Corrine, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.