Klarinet Archive - Posting 001319.txt from 1999/01

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: klarinet Digest 25 Jan 1999 14:40:41 -0000 Issue 984
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 04:20:41 -0500

P's remark may well look racist. Unfortunately, it might also be true.
There s no a priori way of knowing whether it is or not, away from her own
observations.
Surely the only *moral* way to deal with "race" is to ignore it
altogether?
Roger Shilcock (from a different racist tradition, I suppose..)

On Mon, 25 Jan 1999, Kathy Beatty wrote:

> Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 12:34:17 -0700
> From: Kathy Beatty <kbeatty@-----.com>
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: [kl] Re: klarinet Digest 25 Jan 1999 14:40:41 -0000 Issue 984
>
> 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
>
>
>
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