Klarinet Archive - Posting 001282.txt from 1999/01

From: Kathy Beatty <kbeatty@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: klarinet Digest 25 Jan 1999 14:40:41 -0000 Issue 984
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 14:34:17 -0500

Gerald,

Thank you very much for your well considered post below.

I've been reticent to jump in on this thread, but the apparent racism in some
of the postings here have quite taken me aback. For instance, why does Ravel assume

that the orchestra was disbanded because of lack of interest by the
African-American
community? Isn't it just possible, even likely, that the orchestra, which had
adequate
funding when the district was "white", ended up getting disbanded because now that
the district is no longer white, there's not enough funding? I've seen this happen
before.

In another posting, Paulette, states:
"We do lose certain ethnicities when they find out they have to march in the
rain... (this is
only half a joke)"

This is racial stereotyping at its worst, and couching it as a joke does not excuse
the overt
racism in this statement. Nor does prefacing a racist statement with "This may be
politically
incorrect, but ..." excuse the racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. statements that
generally
follow it.

Kathy

> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 04:26:19, -0500
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> From: WNPW34B@-----.com (MR GERALD W BARNES)
> Subject: Re: klarinet Digest 23 Jan 1999 18:14:55 -0000 Issue 976
> Message-Id: <199901250926.EAA13728@-----.com>
>
> Hello Klarinet Subscribers,
>
> This is my first post to the list, although I have been an off and
> on subscriber for about two years. My post, although I wish it was
> concerning music, is in response to the first post which I found to be
> extremely offensive since I subscribed to the list. This is the post that
> was made by Ravel a few days ago in response to the situation involving the
> court mandate concerning students entering band and other programs. In
> this post Ravel accuses minorities of needing to use legal trickery in
> order to obtain positions in the work force and in other aspects of social
> life. This accusation is given 1) as if legal action taken to oppose
> discrimination is occurring in a society free of prejudice and bias, and 2)
> with out basis or any type of factual support. Following this accusation,
> Ravel goes on to present the pathetic and commonly used example of how
> affirmative action has not been applied to professional sports, even though
> professional sports are businesses which are owned an operated by the
> majority to which most discrimination can be attributed. Following this
> ridiculousness, Ravel speaks of how minorities, especially African
> Americans are under represented in the area of symphonic music. Ravel also
> implies that the arts are not valued by blacks as much as they are by
> whites. Addressing the issue of symphonic music, I know personally what it
> is like to be african american who is involved in the orchestral scene.
> Before I went to college I performed in the local youth symphony, and I
> regularly attended the local orchestra concerts. I believe that people
> enjoy going places where they feel comfortable, and black people are not
> made to feel comfortable in the world of orchestral music. I have many a
> time been the object of unapproving or puzzled stares and comments as I was
> seen after a performance or attending a concert.(people were especially
> vocal after my performance of the Mozart concerto) This does not occur now
> that I am in college. I attend Morehouse College, which is ninety eight
> percent african american. I now play in an orchestra that is almost
> completely African American, with audiences that are also mostly Black. I
> no longer see the stares, or hear the comments, yet I still know people
> that avoid symphony concerts because they feel as if they will not be
> accepted in that type of environment. In response to Ravel's implication
> that the arts of are little value to African Americans, I would like to
> offer the theory that Ravel's use of the term "arts" refers to art forms
> which were created and started by cultures other than African Americans.
> Ravel's definition of the arts most likely would exclude the entire art
> forms of jazz, the blues, spirituals, the works of writers and poets such
> as Langston Hughes, Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones), Toni Morrison, Alice
> Walker, and probably any other work of art created by any person of color.
> Well, what I've been attempting to assert in this exhaustive writing is
> that I strongly disagree with the comments made by Ravel, and I feel as if
> they are simply the manifestations of a prejudiced mind, but that's just my
> opinion.
>
> Gerald Barnes
> wnpw34b@-----.com
> Morehouse College
> Physics & Mathematics Major
> Clarinetist/Bassist

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org