(no subject)
Mar. 6th, 2006 08:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katallisonReposting below some stuff I posted at MetaFilter, about Kirby Puckett's death -- it's actually more a precis of what I wanted to say, but what I wanted to say is too long and gnarled and difficult to really get written tonight, tired as I am.
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It's really hard to overstate the intensity of affection in which Minnesotans held Puckett, and I've long felt that that wasn't really a healthy thing. Kirby came to the Twin Cities and rose to stardom at a time (the mid-to-late 80s) when this traditionally lily-white area was seeing a significant influx of black people, many from the Chicago area, and there was a lot of vague but serious fear about gangs! and dangerous young black men from the Chicago projects!
And then, all of a sudden, there was Kirby, who grew up in the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago, and yet who seemed so sweet, so wholesome and loveable, so innocent. Minnesota clasped Puckett to its collective Scandinavian wholesomeness-loving bosom; at the height of his popularity they sold teddy bears named after him in the local department stores and boutiques.
The point about a teddy bear, of course, is that it's defanged, desexualized, a creature that's lost its blood and its shadow. I used to wonder quite often what the hell it must really be like for Puckett to be so enfolded in this vast wave of sentimental idealization, which had a whole lot to do with a city in denial about racism finding a way to pretend that none of that was really an issue, because, look! Kirby grew up in the projects, and yet he's sweet and good and totally not dangerous or scary at all!
So the allegations of violence, sexual assault, sexual abuse, were that much more shocking, and instead of trying to come to terms with all of it, the Minnesota collective psyche just sort of froze the whole thing out of awareness. And for those of us who remember how, back in the day, he was idolized as the black athlete who made us feel happy and fuzzy, his terribly early death isn't a resolution of all the confusion that came afterward; more like a slamming of the door on a whole bunch of tangled and uneasy stuff we have a stake in not understanding.
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It's really hard to overstate the intensity of affection in which Minnesotans held Puckett, and I've long felt that that wasn't really a healthy thing. Kirby came to the Twin Cities and rose to stardom at a time (the mid-to-late 80s) when this traditionally lily-white area was seeing a significant influx of black people, many from the Chicago area, and there was a lot of vague but serious fear about gangs! and dangerous young black men from the Chicago projects!
And then, all of a sudden, there was Kirby, who grew up in the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago, and yet who seemed so sweet, so wholesome and loveable, so innocent. Minnesota clasped Puckett to its collective Scandinavian wholesomeness-loving bosom; at the height of his popularity they sold teddy bears named after him in the local department stores and boutiques.
The point about a teddy bear, of course, is that it's defanged, desexualized, a creature that's lost its blood and its shadow. I used to wonder quite often what the hell it must really be like for Puckett to be so enfolded in this vast wave of sentimental idealization, which had a whole lot to do with a city in denial about racism finding a way to pretend that none of that was really an issue, because, look! Kirby grew up in the projects, and yet he's sweet and good and totally not dangerous or scary at all!
So the allegations of violence, sexual assault, sexual abuse, were that much more shocking, and instead of trying to come to terms with all of it, the Minnesota collective psyche just sort of froze the whole thing out of awareness. And for those of us who remember how, back in the day, he was idolized as the black athlete who made us feel happy and fuzzy, his terribly early death isn't a resolution of all the confusion that came afterward; more like a slamming of the door on a whole bunch of tangled and uneasy stuff we have a stake in not understanding.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-07 03:59 am (UTC)On the one hand, the allegations of violence, sexual assault, ect make me sad and upset.
And on the other, a part of me will always have respect for somebody, who, when asked why he didn't go in and demand renegotiation midway though a contract after several other stars had just signed HUGE muli-million dollar contract replied that the Twins had negotiated in good faith and had upheld their end of the bargain, and since they had kept their word, he was going to keep his.
I guess the only thing we can say about him is that the man had flaws in proportion to his virtues.
This is not to say that we paper over his flaws, but neither should we ignore the man's genuine noble qualities.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-07 04:00 am (UTC)