Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister of Italy, just referred to Barack Obama as "young, handsome, and suntanned." Frankly, I'm glad he said it. At least, I'm glad he said it now. I think everyone needs to get all of this stuff out of our system now, before Obama actually takes office. The interesting thing for me, though, was the prior history of the word "suntanned" to refer to people of color. In fact, Duke Ellington's musical "Jump for Joy" prominently uses the word "suntanned" to refer to African-Americans, but with positive connotations. "Jump for Joy" Ellington's short-lived "social significance" musical from 1941 features, among other things, a stricken "Uncle Tom," surrounding by black performers singing about letting him die, he had lived a long life, while Broadway and Hollywood producers try desperately to keep him alive. The show opens with a number called "Suntanned Tenth of the Nation," which at leasts suggests that earlier in our history, "suntanned" was used comfortably by African-Americans. Then again, that was nearly 70 years ago. And we don't quite use the term "high yaller" anymore, either.
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