Beyond the Google Survey

(The following is the first part of a letter I sent to my music education organization’s DEI Committee. That letter goes on to make some concrete suggestions that I’ll leave out here). 

 

Imagine your neighbor is sick. You are a caring person and you want to know how to help. But you are not a doctor and don’t know how to test for serious life-threatening diseases. Instead, you might notice a few cuts on the arm and put on some band-aids. Your friend might complain of headaches and you make sure there’s an ample supply of Advil. They might complain of a pain in the shoulder and you are happy to offer a little massage. 

 

What you don’t know is that your neighbor is suffering from Stage 4 cancer that is eating away the body’s healthy cells, blocking nutrient and  oxygen supply, threatening vital organ function. What you don’t realize is that the band-aids, Advil and massage might be well-meaning interventions that provide some tiny, tiny relief, but miss the point entirely of what is actually ravaging the body. 

 

I celebrate the birth of DEI committees in schools and organizations like ours. At the same time, I’m concerned about the directions some are taking. While well-meaning, all the fuss about making sure you don’t offend somebody by saying the wrong thing, all the fantasies that singing the wrong songs will cripple the patient, all the thinking that filling out a Google form will change things at the level they need to be changed, become a bit dangerous because they give the illusion of “doing something” while actually accomplishing nothing that gets to the root of the problem. All these tiny gestures are band-aids on cancer, too small, too off-base, too ineffective for the kind of intense radiation or chemotherapy this invasive disease needs.

 

The cancers under discussion here are the ongoing narratives of White Supremacy, toxic Patriarchy, homophobia, religious hatred, rampant consumption, unchecked greed and yet more. We understandably are overwhelmed by the presence of any one of these, never mind the intersectionality of how they work together to create the worst versions of ourselves. Since it feels too big for our tiny shoulders to carry, we settle for these small (but ultimately ineffective) little actions.

 

But the good news is that without going to Medical School, we are all capable of recognizing the symptoms of each, diagnosing the cancer and beginning to administer the cure. There are hundreds of books, documentaries, films, plays, songs that reveal the causes of the cancers and chronicle the effects. There are many fingers pointing to the chemotherapeutic redemption available once we commit ourselves fully to educate ourselves and each other, to awaken to the realities of these ongoing epidemics that cripple us. 

 

Why do you think the Republicans are so desperate to ban books? Because they recognize the power of books to dethrone unearned privilege. Once people learn the truth about what has gone on in this country and what continues to go on, the curtain gets pulled aside to reveal the frightened men pulling the levers to amplify their Wizard of Oz power that cares about nothing but their own profit. These lawmakers are rightly fearful that the ignorance they count on to keep the above narratives going to their exclusive benefit is threatened by authentic education. They are afraid that people will refuse the old narratives and begin to create and live the new. 

 

In the light of all of this, it behooves all of us concerned and good-hearted citizens to dig deeper to consider how to effect real change. To take the time and energy to begin deep-tissue reflections and courageous conversations. And I suggest we bypass the convenient Google surveys and dig deeper into the things that actually transform us, in fact, the very field of endeavor—Art and Literature. 

 

For me personally, even though I had two black friends in Middle School and High School, my understanding about what they were facing didn’t come from simply hanging out with them. I was sixteen years old when I read two books—Manchild in a Promised Land and Autobiography of Malcolm X— that gave me my first glimpse into the immense power of centuries of systemic racism to close the doors to opportunities I had and my friends deserved, but had to struggle mightily to achieve. 

 

Once I began to educate myself through reading— and shame on schools for not requiring books like these!—I never looked back.. From there all the way to Isabel Wilkerson’s CasteI read last month, book after book revealed how systemic racism works and how we might stop—or at least slow down—its ravaging effects as it continues to march along aided by our —particularly white folks’— purposefully perpetuated ignorance. Then there were the films, both fiction and documentary, a few plays, the entire repertoire of jazz and beyond, the five trips to Ghana to study the roots music in the culture that birthed it, as well as conversations with my Orff mentor Avon Gillespie, my friend and colleague Kofi Gbolonyo, my son-in-law Ronnie Taylor and many more.

 

In short, ART AND LITERATURE!!! That’s what goes miles further than any sociological study or multiple choice test. As Orff teachers, we should know that. We should use that. We should turn to our field and aim our efforts at not just music and dance and drama in general, but to all of that tied to humanitarianism and social justice. In short, Art and Literature can be the radiation treatment that roots out the cancer. Let’s get going.