Elvis, not a racist!

[john carpenter]

Let's get two things straight from the start.
Firstly Elvis’ supposed 1957 "racist comment", that is often bandied about, has never been verified and seems highly unlikely considering the timing, as well as Elvis' deep involvement with the black music of the era. This was just an early tabloid smear of the type that would sadly continue way past his death. In fact the rumour should have stopped then & there since, on the set of Jailhouse Rock, Elvis was directly challenged about the statement by reporter Louie Robinson from the prominent black newspaper 'Jet'. Elvis honestly replied, "I never said anything like that, and people who know me know that I wouldn’t have said it."
Secondly the Chuck D quote (from Public Enemy’s ‘Fight The Power’) is again regularly used to denigrate Elvis but is never fully explained. What Chuck D actually says - should anyone bother to ask him or check the facts – is that what he actually disliked was Elvis’ "culture-blurring genius". This is because it happened to play into the hands of a racist music industry that, at the time, was hungry for a white artist who could play black music. Chuck D in fact agrees & says that, "Elvis was a door, a gateway through to the roots. In the beginning of his career Elvis admitted where the roots came from, but did anybody care?"

[TCB4ELVIS]

I think Elvis had old fashion values regarding stuff like mix marriages. For him and his family but not for others. There's also the home movie of him with June wearing the Sailor Hat doing a High Hitler sign but he looked like he was totally joking around. Mocking him more than anything. Remember WWII was still fresh in these peoples minds.
But c'mon, he played clubs singing black music how black musicians sang it then and I'm pretty sure he got his butt kicked a lot that's why he got Red and his cousins to protect him. He went on National TV and performed like the black artists' did back then.
He was a big deal he went on TV and told the world, "I'm like a one cat peeping in a seafood store!"....he went to Vegas in 56 and got nothing but mercy applause.
He knew his place in mixing blues, country and gospel. He made a lot of jokes about different races but he in my opinion was in no way racist.

[shelley.m.]

Elvis a racist? I don't think so. His parents brought him up to respect all people,no matter who they were,young or old,rich or poor and black or white.

[Awickedreigndrop]

I think this rumor started because some people of his own race didn't like him because he was breaking down the race barriers through his music. So they wanted to taint his image and taint it they did! It's been years and the rumor's still lingering.

[dj_ethan]

Elvis a racist? I don't think so. His parents brought him up to respect all people,no matter who they were,young or old,rich or poor and black or white.

Absolutely ! I Agree Shelley

[debtdbruno]

Elvis a racist? I don't think so. His parents brought him up to respect all people,no matter who they were,young or old,rich or poor and black or white.

[WaterMermaid]

Elvis a racist? I don't think so. His parents brought him up to respect all people,no matter who they were,young or old,rich or poor and black or white.

I agree!!

[KPM]

Jet magazine investigated the allegations in 1957:
Peter Guralnick, in his Last Train to Memphis, The Rise of Elvis Presley cites a good story that appeared in Jet magazine on August 1, 1957.

"Tracing that rumored racial slur to its source was like running a gopher to earth", Jet wrote. Some said Presley had said it in in Boston, which Elvis had never visited. Some said it was on Edward Murrow's on which Elvis had never appeared. Jet sent Louie Robinson to the set of Jailhouse Rock "When asked if he ever made the remark, Missisissippi-born Elvis declared: 'I never said anything like that, and people who know me know I wouldn't have said it ." Robinson then spoke to people "who were (itals) in a position to know" and heard from Dr W. A Zuber, "a Negro physician in Tupelo" that Elvis Presley used to "go round to Negro 'sanctified meetings'; from pianist Dudley Brooks that he "faces everybody as a man" and from Presley himself that he had gone to colored churches as a kid, like Reverend Brewster's and that "he could honestly never hope to equal the musical achievements of Fats Domino or the Inkspot's Bill Kenny." "To Elvis," Jet concluded in its Aug 1 1957 issue, "people are people regardless of race, color or creed."
Visiting Memphis, Ivory Joe Hunter was invited by Presley to visit with him in Graceland and Ivory Joe was worried about the stories of prejudice that had been circulating about Elvis through the spring of 1957. Presley received him with warmth and admiration, sang his composition "I almost lost my mind" with him, and they hung out for the day singing. Hunter said later, "He showed me every courtesy and I think he's one of the greatest."

[poormansgold]

We never know Elvis was racist or not, We have Little racist In us, I know I do have Little bit. It's nothing do With Color Or You From, It's How You Act, Action talks In Volumes, we know that.
I had people that don't liked me because I'm diff'net from them because of my Handincap , I Have speech problem that from a stoke at brith , yes From brith , make the story short, my mother was bleeding for 48 hours before I was born.
I see alot racistum in my 40 years plus life and it's something not go away still we stop hate each another for good, I never see that in my life time, right now we can get along together without the hate .
Tom

[buttonhead]

We never know Elvis was racist or not, We have Little racist In us, I know I do have Little bit. It's nothing do With Color Or You From, It's How You Act, Action talks In Volumes, we know that.
I had people that don't liked me because I'm diff'net from them because of my Handincap , I Have speech problem that from a stoke at brith , yes From brith , make the story short, my mother was bleeding for 48 hours before I was born.
I see alot racistum in my 40 years plus life and it's something not go away still we stop hate each another for good, I never see that in my life time, right now we can get along together without the hate .
Tom

So sorry to hear that.

People can be so cruel , you know.

I am asian in america, the thought of people think of me like a 'greencard' i already get used to it. I do think that asian is a new black not all the time but i do get that hint.

Anywho..I dont think Elvis is racist, its people had narrow minded and we forgot that we all equal in the eyes of God. But again when Elvis started it all..remember everything is segregated.. most people more religious than they are nowadays, the way he moves the way his music was different and he was under scrutiny, or a microscope almost all the time, because people HATES changes.. most people afraid to embrace changes, BUT elvis is so brave and had encourage to do so , I admire him for that.

enough