re: Is it racist for a white man to sing a negro spiritual?

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No.

A THOUSAND times, no.

I swear some of y'all have lost your got damn minds

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This board sometimes makes me embarrassed to be from the South despite all we have to offer and despite E. TN's very different history. I try my damndest to defend the South from stereotypes and remind folks that the South is and always has been more than just 'white.' We're made up of white, black, brown, latin@s, and many others. Yet both outsiders and a certain dumbass segment of white folks erase the contributions and very existence of black folks and women, in particular from history.

Frederick Douglass was Southern as was MLK Jr. and countless women of all colors who championed rights, showed valor, and fought for better rights for all. Douglass fought for all including women of all colors so did MLK Jr. as in his later years he was most concerned with economic justice and fought for both black folks and poor whites. Yet somehow this gets forgotten.

Soon much of the South will revert to what it was originally -- majority nonwhite. The segment used to the revisionist history better change fast or they'll be in a world of hurt. Think, ask, call people what they want to be called, and treat people equally (that includes respect, promotions, pay, and being a neighbor). It's really not complicated.

No one is gonna jump down the throat of someone who approaches things from a perspective of 'look, I know I don't know much and maybe I hold bad views. I'm gonna make mistakes but I want to learn.'

I've noticed a few generations getting taught basically cliff notes of history, excerpts of the whole story. In many cases, there seem to not even be excerpts of what were major events in our history. Seems like the Civil War and the Vietnam "conflict" tend to get swept more and more under the rug.
All in all, that's not the teachers or students fault, it's the way modern "p c" society has become and the issues fall at the feet of the folks that bow down to the little weenie lawsuit filing minority to keep their school system from any "bad publicity" . To take away, distort,, and purposefully, blatantly not teach the facts is wrong, good or bad, that is our history, whether we're proud of it or not, we or our ancestors did it.

I guess "ignorance is bliss"?? I do think if modern society keeps sticking our heads in the sand, there is going to be some seriously sunburned asses, there already are.

Again, for whites to sing a black spiritual may or may not be racist? Are you really serious, surely you aren't that stupid? I've purposely danced away from religion talk, but are you or anyone else trying to say that people, black, white or polka dot have 2 Gods, 2 different bibles, 2 different any things? For, if you or anybody else that says if I sing a "black spiritual" to my kids, I'm racist,, I whole heartedly feel that you are the one that needs to look in the mirror, if you don't see a true racist looking back at you, you will see an uneducated dumb arse, and I don't mean "book educated".
I'm through with this, I can't wait for Christmas, gonna sing to my descendants.

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I don't get this at all. You wouldn't sing a hymn in front of a black person??? It is in bad taste?? This makes no sense and is one of the most illogical things I have ever seen.

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Stopped reading there. I said hymn and meant spiritual. I corrected myself later. Direct your outrage elsewhere.

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Has it ever occurred to you that white people can be spiritual as well? There are a whole bunch of us who are, believe it or not.

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You don't know what is meant by a "spiritual" here, do you? It's not the religious context that matters, but rather the origins of the songs themselves. Surely you get that.

The rest of your post is basically you missing the point altogether.

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Stopped reading there. I said hymn and meant spiritual. I corrected myself later. Direct your outrage elsewhere.

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Well, unfortunately, I did not stop reading your ludicrous post. Regrettable.

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I wouldn't sing a hymnal in front of a black person for the same reason I wouldn't order an Irish Car Bomb at a pub in Belfast. It's just not in good taste.

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And you stated "hymnal", (a book of hymns), in your original comment which I recognized, but overlooked. Considering the content of the remainder of your statement. I couldn't care less about your grammatical errors or misuse of words. There is much more to be "outraged" about concerning your statement. A perfect example of that is your comparison of singing a (spiritual) in front of a black person to ordering an Irish Car Bomb at a pub in Belfast as evidenced by your quote above. My "outrage" is directed exactly where it needs to be. Spot on.

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You don't know what is meant by a "spiritual" here, do you? It's not the religious context that matters, but rather the origins of the songs themselves. Surely you get that.

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Oh, I believe it is obvious that it is you who does not understand the meaning of a "spiritual" in any context.

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Spirituals (or Negro spirituals[1][2][3][4][5][6]) are religious (generally Christian) songs that were created by enslaved African people in the United States.The term spiritual is derived from spiritual song. The King James Bible's translation of Ephesians 5:19 says: "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." The term "spiritual song" was often used in the black and white Christian community through the 19th century (and indeed much earlier), and "spiritual" was used as a noun to mean, according to the context, "spiritual person" or "spiritual thing", but not specifically with regard to song. Negro spiritual first appears in print in the 1860s,[7] where slaves are described as using spirituals for religious songs sung sitting or standing in place, and spiritual shouts for more dance-like music.

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Although numerous rhythmical and sonic elements of Negro spirituals can be traced to African sources, Negro spirituals are a musical form that is indigenous and specific to the religious experience in the United States of Africans and their descendants. They are a result of the interaction of music and religion from Africa with music and religion of European origin. Further, this interaction occurred only in the United States. Africans who converted to Christianity in other parts of the world, even in the Caribbean and Latin America, did not evolve this form.[8]

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Negro spirituals were primarily expressions of religious faith.

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The lyrics of Christian spirituals reference symbolic aspects of Biblical images such as Moses and Israel's Exodus from Egypt in songs such as "Michael Row the Boat Ashore".

Christian hymns and songs were very influential on the writing of African-American spirituals. Slave composers took material from older songs, such as Christian hymns, and the Bible to create something entirely new and special to the culture. Spirituals were not simply different versions of hymns or Bible stories, but rather a creative altering of the material; new melodies and music, refashioned text, and stylistic differences helped to set apart the music as distinctly African-American.[9]

There is also a duality in the lyrics of spirituals. They communicated many Christian ideals while also communicating the hardship that was a result of being an African-American slave. The spiritual was often directly tied to the composer's life.[10]

It was a way of sharing religious, emotional, and physical experience through song..

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LINK Origins of Negro Spirituals

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The rest of your post is basically you missing the point altogether.

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It is you who has altogether missed the point of spirituals, of where and why they originated, that religion absolutely matters in their meanings in any context, and evidently, you miss the point of spirituals in relation to spirituality, entirely. If you understood in the slightest, there would be no reason for your post.

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I'm jewish and love Amazing Grace on the bagpipes.

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Here's something interesting for you then... The Cherokee who were removed and forced to march on the Trail of Tears weren't allowed to mourn their dead. You had to keep marching even if someone fell right beside you. So in order to mourn they would sing Amazing Grace as they walked.

There's something about that song that is universal.

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And you stated "hymnal"

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I know that, and I corrected myself, which you now recognize... Yet you still argue the point? Amazing.

I'm not reading the rest of what you wrote. Sing whatever the frick you want. I don't care. I'm just saying that the same thing can have different meanings to different people, and therefore folks shouldn't assume that what a song means to you is universal. That is to say that you shouldn't be surprised if/when people find something with this history to be bothersome.