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Morris Men

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Michael Jackson Dancers Banned From School

michael-jackson-dancersWE all react in our way to news of Michael Jackson’s death. And Kent’s Motley “Border” Morris Men have blackened their faces with burnt corks and make ready to make merry.

But the Morris Men are not welcome at Chantry Primary School in Gravesend.

Says head teacher Hazel King:

“We organised the event to bring a diverse and fragile community together. To celebrate all cultures we booked a Morris troupe, having failed to recognise the possible significance for our community of their tradition to perform with blackened faces. We found ourselves in a difficult position of weighing up any potential offence versus not wishing to compromise the Morris dancers’ tradition.”

For shame that so many years after the Windrush generation settled on Blighty’s lapping shores, and in Obama’s post-racial world, we can still see this prejudice against a black face.

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Posted: 30th, June 2009 | In: Strange But True | Comments (3)