To contact this jazz band and tell them to stop using this word?

[FauxWhiteOrchid]

There’s a local jazz event taking place soon and the bio describes the band as “Dixieland”. I remember the Dixie Chicks apologising and changing their name.

The word derives from the American South and is also used in a Confederate song. Here’s the full Wikipedia page for “Dixie”. Basically, its usage is racist.

I was surprised to see the word at all but also not surprised as I live in a very white Reform/Tory voting area.

AIBU to contact the band and ask them to change their description? Or leave them alone? I know what the reaction will be if I do contact them: just music blah blah been a traditional word for this style of jazz blah blah world gone mad woke blah joy thief etc. But I see no reason to use this word in this day and age.

WWYD?

Forgot the link.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie

I think it's positively a good idea for you to do that. They may know already, in which case they are choosing to ignore it at best. They may not know in which case you are giving them information. Language evolves. No-one would call a band n*er band, and this is - if at the moment more obscure - no better.
Good for you OP.

I put three asterisks in that word but formatting decided I only needed one! 😂

Interesting that 86% have voted that I am BU.

Thanks @heldinadream.

It's easy enough to click a vote. I'd wait for more comments before drawing any conclusions if I were you.

I think you need to stop policing other people's language and concentrate on your own behaviour.

Why? What have I done?

Contacting them and saying why the Dixie Chicks changed their name is reasonable to do. Until they did I was unaware of the connection and I doubt I was alone.

I don't live in a 'very white area'.

If you're basing your argument on Wikipedia pages here's another

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixieland_jazz

Is it the band’s name or is it a description of the type of jazz that they play?

OP is not ‘policing’ anybody and hasn’t done anything wrong.

It’s a description of the jazz.

Is there an alternative name for the type of music they play? Dixieland Jazz is a particular style of music and people know what they’re getting from that title. Would there be an alternative term that is similarly obvious? As if so, I can’t see what objection there would be to changing the name as the term is now deemed offensive.

There’s some debate about whether the word Dixie is offensive. It’s still widely used in the USA. Just because one band decided not to use the word any more, doesn’t mean everyone has agreed it’s offensive. Honestly I think you should mind your own business, preaching is never welcomed.

It would help if there was an alternative name. But Dixie is ingrained in many people’s minds as a style of jazz but the meaning of the word isn’t.

I think most people would just take the bio as giving an idea of the type of Jazz they play. Black and white musicians played dixieland jazz, it's just a description of a style of music. What would you call that style of music instead? If you can think of something equally descriptive but more woke by all means suggest it.

Leave the band alone, I'm sure they don't mean any harm. Sadly we're now in a world full of haters, snowflakes and wokes and we're all too scared to use ANY words incase we ''offend'' someone.

I’ve never heard of this problem and am still not clear on precisely what it is. I’ve read your link (to the word Dixie not Dixieland) and, aside from a vague association with the Confederacy period in American history, it doesn’t explain. Clicking on links within your page reveals that the name itself comes from the Mason-Dixon Line, which was named after two surveyors and astronomers, one of whom was Jeremiah Dixon and the word Dixieland which refers to the geographical area south of that line and a style of music associated with that geographical area. Jeremiah Dixon had nothing to do with the slave trade, racism or anything objectionable. Nor did his colleague Mason. Are you able to precisely articulate what the source of the caused is, who it rightfully upsets (not you as you have no skin in this gene apart from a little more background knowledge - you can only be offended on behalf of others unless you are from the American South) and what alternative term the group could use that their audience of jazz lovers would understand (again not you - you’ve seen a poster, not attended a concert).

I think there are inherent dangers in labelling words as more harmful than they need to be and therefor tainting everyone who uses them for their original purpose ( in this case a well inform descriptor of a type of music) with unwarranted accusations of being inherently racist because there are some white Tory voters in your area. These prejudices suggest a bit of holier than thou in your attitude. Maybe start by assuming the best in people you don’t know.

A few typos. *game not gene.

“Tell” them to change their name - massive overreach on your part.

Ask? Maybe. Suggest? Perhaps. Tell? Nope!

OP I think you're wrong to write to tell them it's racist because it is up for debate and - though in decline - still widely used as self-identification. But you can tell them it's a contentious word and highlight the loaded nature of it. It's not a clear cut picture though like you are saying it is- language isn't hard fixed in its meaning or associations. Even the most racist of words are often reclaimed by those groups who suffered the abuse. So it's just not clear cut like you're indicating it is.

Personally, I think the use of the term in music is one step removed from the Dixie debate generally and still very widely used and accepted by fans and makers of that style of music, so it's not the issue you're thinking it is.

This!

Also, a word can have more than one meaning. I’m sure their connotation is purely the style of jazz.

Unless I’ve massively misunderstood, I think you may need to unclench!

Dixieland (not Dixie) is the well-known name for a style of jazz music. You're being daft.