South Pacific and Employment Law

This past Sunday evening, one of the greatest musicals ever, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, received seven Tony Awards, including Best Revival Musical.  Almost everyone remembers Bali Ha’i, Some Enchanted Evening, A Wonderful Guy, There Is Nothin’ Like a Dame and many more of the world’s favorite songs.  What everyone may not remember is South Pacific’s candid look at racial prejudice. 

During World War II, Nellie Forbush, a nurse from Arkansas, falls in love with Emile de Becque, a plantation owner in France.  She terminates the relationship when she learns that Emile, a widower, has two children by his first marriage to a Polynesian woman.  Nellie’s racial prejudice explodes when she realizes that the youngsters are children of color.  Critics note that today’s audience gasps everytime Nellie angrily says the children are “colored.”  In less obvious ways, South Pacific also deals with how African-Americans were treated by the military during the war.  They had different jobs, and they were separated from white soldiers.

When we think of discrimination or harassment cases today that involve inappropriate racial language, it’s the N-word that takes center stage.  There was a time when “colored” was the less offensive word, but a word still used to demean.  In 2008, it’s a word that apparently causes people of all colors to cringe.  “People of color” (which includes many races in addition to African-American) is a term commonly (and without offense) used today, but it’s socially and legally unacceptable to use the word “colored.”  It still carries the sting of racism.  Thus, if an employee complains about being called the C-word, you should take that as seriously as if the N-word or some other ethnic epithet had been used.

It would be naive to think that all people are troubled by the C-word, just as it would be naive to think that everyone in today’s South Pacific audiences is captivated by the lessons taught instead of the songs sung.  I suspect that some folks remember the song Nellie sings shortly after she breaks off her romance, I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair, not her racial intolerance.  From a human resources and employment law perspective, the revival of this great musical may be a teaching tool worth using in today’s workplace.  It can be both a history lesson about race and cultural differences (there are also lessons about national origin discrimination in South Pacific) and a lesson about the complexities of language used today to describe people of different colors.

Since South Pacific made its debut in 1949, this country has made considerable progress when it comes to race and equality–much more progress than most countries, in my opinion, particularly when you consider the level of intolerance throughout the world that results not in discrimination but genocide.  As human resources professionals and employment lawyers, it’s one of our jobs to make sure the progress continues in the workplace.  Few people would associate South Pacific with the workplace or employment law.  Try thinking about it in those terms.

1. 

   kevin says:

   June 22, 2008 at 6:01 pm

   Say, can anyone tell me what Nelly said in South Pacific productions for the last 60 years, after “colored” was cut from the show, but before the current production restored the word to the script?
2. 

   John Phillips says:

   June 22, 2008 at 7:47 pm

   I hope someone will know the answer to your question. I don’t. I do know that in James Michener’s “Tales of the South Pacific” on which the musical is based, the N-word was used.