U. of Georgia Marching Band Drops Signature ‘Gone With the Wind’ Song

The University of Georgia announced this week that its marching band will no longer play a song from the 1939 film Gone With the Wind during football games. The song “Tara’s Theme” has been the band’s signature song up to this point. The classic Victor Fleming film has recently come under fire over claims that it sanitizes racial and ethnic prejudice.

According to a report by Campus Reform, the University of Georgia announced this week that its marching band will no longer play a song from Gone With the Wind during football games. The university cited concerns about outdated racial stereotypes in the film which could create “an environment that is unfriendly for Black students.”

In a letter, University of Georgia marching band director Brett Bawcum explained that the band has a history of evolution. In 1971, the marching band removed the word “Dixie” from the band’s name to comply with the university’s increasing insistence on social justice.

The public institutions of an honorable society must afford Black people the same respect others can assume. The Redcoat Band is an example of how an institution can create, and also how it can correct, an environment that is unfriendly for Black students. Director Roger Dancz’s arrival in 1955 coincided with adoption of the name Dixie Redcoat Band. In 1971, Mr. Dancz led students in ridding the band’s name and repertoire of “Dixie”—by then, a relic which had come to deny integrating Bulldogs the sense of belonging that others enjoyed. He was not motivated by guilt, but by a desire for justice, the honesty to see its restraints in something he loved, and the willingness to bear the costs of removing them.

Bawcum announced that the song “Tara’s Theme” from Gone With the Wind would be removed from the marching band’s setlist. Bawcum suggested that the change was made in response to the recent social unrest that was prompted by the death of George Floyd.

To all: Last week, I notified Hodgson School of Music director Dr. Pete Jutras and Redcoat Band Alumni Association president Dave Hanson that we are ending performances of “Tara’s Theme,” effective immediately, and replacing it as our signature with Georgia on My Mind. Though the tradition has been under discussion for months within the band, the current social climate has highlighted the urgency of addressing it and made me conscious of the message that could be interpreted by delay. To be clear, the issue with the tradition is not the motivation of those who have embraced it, but rather the possibilities it may limit in those who haven’t. I value tradition, but I value creating a welcoming environment much more.

Breitbart News reported in May 2019 that the University of Georgia refused to discipline a teaching assistant that claimed that “white people might have to die” in order to achieve racial justice in the United States.

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