Disturbing and Enlightening

I will save my reader(s) from any diatribe I have about the current controversy surrounding monuments to those who would (and did) commit treason in defense of human bondage figures from the Confederate States of America. I do, however, have some thoughts on a disturbing story I heard on NPR on my way home from work a few days ago. Regrettably I do not recall the precise details, so please excuse the broad-strokes nature of this post.

The interviewee was a jazz musician, who was the son of a jazz musician. The father had been part of the old Indiana Ave. jazz scene that included such notables as Wes Montgomery, Freddie Hubbard, J.J. Johnson, Slide Hampton, and David Baker (I had the wonderful opportunity to take his History of Jazz class while I was at IU and have been grateful for the opportunity ever since). Regrettably, I cannot recall the name of the father or his son, who was being interviewed on NPR.

What really struck me about the interview, however, was the discussion of this guy leaving Indianapolis at a young age to move to California, probably in the early 1960s. Why did he move?

Racism and fear. Full stop.

Now, let me preface the following with a warning that it deals with race in a way that makes some uncomfortable. For that, I apologize.

This guest on NPR told a story of growing up in Indianapolis. His father was a successful jazz musician, and the majority of his family lived here. His uncle built, with his own blood, sweat, and tears, his dream home in Speedway, Indiana. I can fully understand the allure of Speedway. It attracted me.

Unfortunately, the NPR guest was over at his uncle's home one evening when a large cross was erected in their front yard and set ablaze.

Right here in Speedway.

Now, I was not alive at the time. I have never done something like that, and I never will. Nonetheless, it made me ashamed. Ashamed of our past experience with race. Ashamed that after all of these years, may of us would rather pretend that the problem of racism was solved with the Civil War and MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech. Ashamed that we pretend that racism is behind us, was just a small but shameful segment of our history.

Having lived briefly in Canada, I can assure my fellow citizens that slavery and Jim Crow leave a long tail of legacy behind them. Race is a considerably "bigger deal" here in America than it is in Canada, and I assure you there are plenty of minorities in Canada.

I propose that we, as a people, are better than our past and present acts and omissions on race would lead one to believe. I believe that the people of Speedway, black, white, yellow, brown, orange, purple (I guess?), etc., are MORE than simply "races." We are more than our collective heritage. We can do our part to move this world in the right direction.

Speedway could locate the sites of past injustices and place monuments to them; not to celebrate the injustice but to remind ourselves that it happened, to remind ourselves that it shouldn't happen and that it mustn't happen. To remind ourselves that our children and grandchildren (whether they've been born already, or will be in the future) are watching and judging. And they're right to judge.

Don't ever forget that "The Greatest Generation" that fought and defeated the Nazis could have been known as the generation that capitulated. The Baby Boomers could have been the generation that perpetuated Jim Crow. Our Founding Fathers could have remained a bunch of rich aristocrats who weren't willing to upset the lives of (relative) luxury they lived and simply decided to "go along to get along" with the King.

History is watching, and we can, for generations, be known either as the people who made our corner of the world better, made it worse, or perpetuated the same problems without doing anything to fix any of them.

The choice is ours.