Back in the 1980s a rugby player switched from Rugby League (horrible, nasty, northern game) to Rugby Union (lovely, gentlemanly, southern game, even though there are some similarities) and represented England. He was a wonderful wing. Fast. In that ‘how can you be that fast when you’re that big’ kind of way that only rugby can produce. He was already called ‘Chariots of Fire’ (of fire… Offiah… geddit?) and thus when he played at Twickenham, some fans started singing ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’. In his honour. It didn’t just stick, it in fact became THE anthem for England rugby (rugby union, obviously, the northerners probably have their own song for rugby league, probably about beer and beating wives and living in mud huts, stealing hub-caps, I really don’t know). Martin Offiah retired a hero in the early 90s, but the song stayed on. And the fans sing it at every match. To lift, to inspire, to create a frisson which sends a shiver down your spine. It is that powerful. And wonderful.

So it has to be banned. Because it was a ‘slave song’. And it was indeed written by a slave. But that further honours the song. The power of it. The feeling it produces. Because it came from the heart. Of a slave.

I absolutely hate referring to ‘the slave trade’ as ‘the black holocaust’. I feel it dilutes and creates an equivalence that is not in any way true or helpful to either cause. But, and there’s always a ‘but’, for the purposes of the next 10 minutes, I will use that rather inappropriate parallel.

Because the motto for the holocaust for all Jews is this: ‘Lest We Forget’. Because the worst thing for historical tragedy is that it loses its context, loses its imagery, loses its potency. So we have the Holocaust Education Centre, we have lobbyists fighting endlessly to include the Holocaust in educational curricula. We have ‘Yom HaShoah’, the day of the holocaust, every year. Because if people forget, or are never even told, about terrible tragedies, then no-one learns from them. And they can repeat. Heaven forbid.

And yet the Black Lives Matter movement, which, in principle, has my total and absolute support, seem to want to erase all traces of their the slave trade. Knock down the statues, erase the history, remove everything of everyone associated. Though, granted, we never erected too many statues of Adolph Hitler in Hyde Park and in fact leading Nazis are seriously under-represented, statue-wise, even in Germany. Or rather, especially in Germany. I’m not suggesting we revere slavers any more than death camp commandants.

But songs? Beautiful songs? Keep them. As a reminder. Part of the education process. A powerful part. No-one remembers historical details but everyone remembers a good tune. Use it. Don’t just lose it. It’s all become a bit too reactionary.

Happy day of the Sun

A xxxx