THREE FACES OF RACISM
Dominique-René de Lerma
Scenario
1. James DePriest is engaged as conductor of the Orchestre
Symphonique de Quebéc, not for the color of his skin, but the character
of his talent.
Scenario
2 . Dean Dixon never had an orchestra in his own country, not because
of the character of his talent, but the color of his skin.
Scenario 3. Paul Freeman established the Chicago Sinfonietta because of the character of his talent and the color of his skin.
Now
let's consider the following variations: Politician X received his
education with the benefit of affirmative action, which he now opposes.
Conductor X refuses to schedule any music not composed by a fellow
African American. Professor X makes no notice of the race of his
students.
Racism
seems basically to mean two different things, depending on how it
applies and who does the application. We certainly have never had
difficulty in witnessing the negative version. This has been manifest
openly in the case of hate organizations and has been thinly hidden when
code words were used: "of Oriental persuasion" was the previous term
for anti-Semites.
When
I was guest lecturer at a predominately Caucasian university, a faculty
member during the Q&A session asked "Why can't we just consider
good music to be just that and forget about race?" This was like a
newspaper editorial, anticipating the new exhibit at the local gallery,
which stated "Romare Bearden was a great artist who just happened to be
Black" (like such an apology should excuse Wagner for being German!).
Affirmative
action was an effort to compensate the current generation for the
wrongs previously inflicted in the past, but this was soon regarded as
an anti-White policy.
Then
the act was defined as a benefit to the majority population as one of
diversity. In came students who knew the spiritual first-hand, who
brought with them that precious aspect of American culture which had
been lacking on campus. A substantial part of this refreshed
perspective was Black culture. How enriched is that faculty that has a
minority member in the music education department (whose students may
soon be faced with "others" in the classroom), or a Black choral
conductor who will not deprive students of a wider concept of
performance practice! President Obama cannot be asked to address only
Black issues, but is to be lauded for the distinct sensitivity his own
experience provided to support "My brother's keeper." Entities without cultural diversity are impoverished.
Now
we have the case of a vacancy in the voice department. Especially if
there is a Black member already on the faculty, we can expect, even
assume, there will be at least one vote to support that candidacy --
assuming all applicants on the short list are qualified. To reject that
applicant might be racially motivated, just as to express support could
be race-positive.
This
is one of those times when the ugliest of manifestations might come
into play: campus politics. Behind-the-scenes meetings, closed-door
conferences, quid pro quo agreements, tacit political alliances and other manipulations quite apart from teaching, which is why a faculty is hired.
Some
of this may be part of a scene enacted in the past two years in the
case of Dr. Alfred Duckett. This is a young, enormously gifted talent,
soon approaching mid-career maturity. I can attest to this; he took
every course I offered at the Peabody Conservatory when he was working
on his master's degree. Nothing would stop his passion for
information. He then secured his doctorate at Catholic University, and
his academic appointments that followed were impressive: Southern
Illinois University, Syracuse University, St. Augustine College, Allen
University, Clark Atlanta University. He has conducted Eastman's
Gateways Festival Orchestra, the Metropolitan Orchestra of St. Louis,
the Atlanta Community Orchestra, the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, the
Berkshire Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. Small
wonder that Oklahoma's Cameron University engaged him with tenure da capo.
Here his students rated him at the top. "He was an awesome teacher! ..
very interesting VERY funny and VERY serious and super musician..."
But
then, as Robert Merriwether reported (10 March 2014) on the internet,
"Black professor faces dismissal for being too Black." Two days later,
Colleen Flaherty outlined the sordid history ("Free speech or hostility?") noting that the American Association of University
Professors had come to Dr. Duckett's aide.
On 24 July, Jackson State University won its new music chairman: Dr. Alfred Duckett. They won't find him too Black.
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Dominique-René de Lerma
