Jill Biden Lets Black People Tap Dance Inside White House, Ruins Christmas For Racists

The horror!

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden is very good at decking the halls, a distinct change from Melania Trump’s repeated fa-la-la-la-fails. This year’s White House decorations, which she revealed just after Thanksgiving, promote the theme “magic, wonder, and joy.” They’re lovely, though my wife’s are better. (That’s a fully objective statement.)

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Wednesday, Dr. Biden released a video that featured tap dancers performing merrily amongst the decorations. The tappers are from the New York-based Dorrance Dance company, which Chapel Hill, North Carolina-native Michelle Dorrance founded in 2011.

Enjoy!

Right-wingers on social media predictably loathed the video, because they hate joy. If your response to this fun video is to shout “Bah! Humbug,” then you can expect a visit from three spirits on Christmas Eve. However, I personally think they’re wasting their time.

Some spoilsports claimed the video had a “Hunger Games aesthetic.” That seems to miss the point of both tap dance and the Hunger Games. Others compared the video to A Clockwork Orange because they have apparently never seen A Clockwork Orange. (The Nutcracker is probably the more relevant and less racist comparison.) No one was performing as “tribute” so that wealthy powerful people can decide if they should receive food and shelter. Granted, that is sometimes how it feels to work in the arts. But haven’t these fools at least seen the Radio City Rockettes? If not, no wonder they’re so miserable.

Repulsive racist Stephen Miller immediately declared the video a “crime against Christmas.” He’s one to judge, considering he’s like the Burgermeister Meisterburger who outlawed Santa Claus or the evil magician who murdered Frosty the Snowman.

Tap dance originated in the southern United States during the 1700s. It’s believed to fuse both West African and Irish step-dance traditions. American enslavers denied Black people access to African percussion instruments, so the enslaved turned to percussive dancing to express themselves and retain their cultural identity. Tap gained national prominence after the Civil War when blackface performers would tap dance during traveling minstrel shows as part of their overall mockery of Black people.

White people have historically adored watching Black folks tap dance, but I assume Miller is upset that these dancers weren’t just paid for their performance but were free to leave afterward and even vote.

Sarah Fields, president/director of Advocacy for Texas Freedom Coalition, was horrified that the Dorrance Dance company is overtly liberal and has common social justice terms on its website. Fields, like many Republicans, insists that it’s “divisive” for liberals to even admit we exist.

Anyway, yes, Black people were tapping in the White House, but that’s happened before. President Bill Clinton welcomed tap dance legend Savion Glover back in the 1990s. A tap dance number is featured in 1954’s White Christmas, although dancers John Brascia and Vera Ellen were both white just like how right-wingers prefer their Christmas.

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