Racism in Music World?

[windshieldbug]

A long time ago, I was "discriminated against"

Location: Westminster Abbey (North Choir Aisle)

Of course you were. You're dead, didn't anyone tell you?

[LoyalTubist]

I understand a little bit about racial discrimination. My ex-wife was Chinese and I heard everything she heard. I heard when people said she got her job because they needed a token Asian. I had the graffiti written on my car stating "GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM!" My daughters are beautiful in every way. Yes, I know racism still exists.

Now then, my ex-wife is considered an Asian because she retains many of the same customs practiced in Asia--plus she was born there. I do not like being considered a European. I lived in Europe for three years and I think there was a bigger culture clash within me there than there was in the four years I lived in Asia!

Actually, in comparison to other fields, music has some of the least discrimination of any area of work. I think the problem with the shortage of certain ethnic groups in our field is a matter of personal choice and that should be respected. I don't think we need to lower our standards by hiring musicians on the Affirmative Action plan!

[Joe Baker]

You part-timers haven't spent a day here in the capital city of "racism" (but not-at-all the type of "racism" that you have been programmed to conceptualize).

Bloke, I lived in Dallas for most of my life, with a lot of the same sort of B.S. Allow me to postulate that this is not really a race issue; it is just one out of many forms of political manipulation. Because (as has been universally agreed) any large group of people is, AS a group, stupid, populations are always susceptible to being manipulated by politicians. This is especially true when the manipulation is to foment hatred of some other group. Nazi hatred of the Jews, Arab hatred of Americans, white hatred of blacks, black hatred of whites -- all of these have been easy pickin's for opportunistic politicians.

Most large cities have been, for a variety of reasons both noble and ignoble, largely abandoned by white folks, so that the populations are now predominately black. The leaders of those cities, for reasons of political power, benefit from stirring up hatred and suspicion of white people (and we mustn't forget: there is legitimate history to support their claims, even if those claims are no longer true).

So what you are describing exists, to be sure, but it's not about "blackness"; it's merely political manipulation. Nor are black people especially foolish to fall for it, as populations of every race have always been susceptible to the same line.

All we can do is try to be as objective as we can, and acknowledge that none of us is REALLY objective. We have to constantly search our own attitudes for attitudes of bigotry and racial prejudice. And when we DO see racism of ANY sort -- against any race -- it behooves us both to deplore it and to understand its source.

I still think this was a legitimate question. An aspiring musician who is concerned, for whatever reason, that they will hit a race barrier has a right to ask if it is so. But I don't think it is productive to have an open-ended debate about race in America in this particular forum. As such, I expect this to be my last post on the matter.
________________________
Joe Baker, who knows that some sentences in this post could be used out of context, and hopes no one will do so.

[Rick Denney]

someone lock this thread!

Did you post in this thread just to see if you could? Did you forget that this was the thread that annoyed you the last time you looked at it?

Rick "who avoids the threads that annoy him" Denney

[Tubaryan12]

Josh "tired of this, ...., but realizes that they would then find unacceptable differences in something else" Stanley

Ain't that the truth!

[Rick Denney]

Rick "who avoids the threads that annoy him" Denney

lessee here...Rick Denney...tall, strong, triathelete, big hands...

...You must be a basketball star...

You're kidding, right? Even in jest, this is such a non-sequitur that I don't know how to think about it.

I once played in a pickup game with colleagues at a conference when I was at my fittest. After seeing what I could (not) do, my instructions were, "Those guys over there--get in their way, but don't hit them!" The only thing I was good at then was running back and forth. And even that I could only do in one direction, and slowly. But I could do it all day. Now, I've damaged my knee and I can't even do that.

Rick "who can't dribble, pass, or shoot a basketball to save his life" Denney