Hey Porter

February 18, 2019 11:54 AM

Cecil Foster, author of They Call Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada, in an essay entitled "Hey Porter": "...the porters were simply known as “George” or “George’s Boy”—a double-barrel blast of deprecation since the possessive George’s smacked of slave-era ownership and boy to the paternalism of a white society where Black men were perceived as childlike and incapable of becoming responsible men. [Stanley] Grizzle and his colleagues resented, indeed bristled at such demeaning labels."

TV Ontario: Stanley Grizzle: Civil Rights Pioneer

CBC Radio: The untold story of Canada's Black train porters

Toronto Star: Demeaned, overworked and all called George: How Black train porters transformed Canada

posted by mandolin conspiracy (5 comments total)

Thank you for posting.

This seemingly casts a very dark light on the Looney Toons' Abominable Snowman and how he treated and named smaller creatures (Bugs Bunny, Marvin the Martian -> George).

Which is to say: I'm crushed by this story
posted by JoeXIII007 at 2:25 PM on February 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

This seemingly casts a very dark light on the Looney Toons' Abominable Snowman and how he treated and named smaller creatures (Bugs Bunny, Marvin the Martian -> George).

Pretty sure that "George", in the cartoons, was a callback to Lennie in Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men." It's not a pleasant picture.
posted by SPrintF at 3:15 PM on February 18, 2019 [4 favorites]

The essay took its title from one of Johnny Cash's early hits, Hey Porter.
posted by Lunaloon at 4:16 PM on February 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

That's horrifying. Just overwriting a person's name and addressing them by a random name?

It's like Chris Rock said, there's no such thing as "race relations". White people used to be crazy, now they're not as crazy.
posted by sotonohito at 5:37 AM on February 19, 2019 [1 favorite]

Pretty sure that "George", in the cartoons, was a callback to Lennie in Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men." It's not a pleasant picture.

I forgot about that. Thank you.

Still, ugh...
posted by JoeXIII007 at 9:10 AM on February 19, 2019