| The Power of Words |
| Sunday, 25 November 2007 | |
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Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me. Do you remember that phrase? Boy, did it make angry those kids with their glaring insecurities who wanted to feel superior to me. I didn’t give their provocations a further thought. I just said matter of factly, and in a cute bouncy rhythm, that their words had no power over me. I was reminded of that phrase just today. While I was researching this month’s eNewsletter, I came across an old blog entry (2006) regarding conductor Vincent Danner who I hadn’t heard much about for a couple of years. The iDiva blog spoke of comments made by members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra (not a youth orchestra, mind you, but adults) about his hair. Maestro Danner was just beginning to lock his hair. Anyone who has ever seen someone in the beginning stages of locks understands that the hair is short and then coiled (i.e. locked) or twisted into sections. Those who have not experienced such a (currently standard and becoming more and more mainstream) hairstyle will balk. I suppose, were I not used to the way that hair, especially curly hair like my own, intertwines with other strands of my tresses, I would be curious too.
During a vacation to Costa Rica last year, my friends and I accidentally disobeyed a street sign. An angry driver yelled out at us from his car window shaking his fist. We simply stared at him and shrugged our shoulders. His words obviously meant something—I’m pretty sure we got called all kinds of names—but we were so clueless to their meaning (my language instructors didn’t teach us curse words), they didn’t mean a thing. We went on about our day, more carefully paying attention to the signs of course, and had a wonderful trip. But I think that if I had known what the man was yelling about or calling me, I may have been highly offended and upset. Point is, the blogger asked if Maestro Danner should have confronted the name-caller or if another member of the orchestra should have put the assaulter in his place. I have mixed emotions. I mean, as long as the world turns, racism will exist. There’s no way around that. But why give the comments any power by reacting to them? Think about it this way: a comedian tries out his jokes on the crowd. If they laugh, he uses them again. If they bomb, he discards them. Maybe we should let stupid people’s comments, whether they’re joking or serious, just die. But in an orchestra, when they are virtually homogenous, how do we—those of us who are aspiring classical musicians and conductors—begin to feel that we belong? My mother warned against doing anything to myself physically, e.g. piercing my nose or getting a tattoo in an obvious place that would go against the corporate America look. I therefore tried my best not to be an individual or display my personality for fear that I wouldn’t be accepted. In a way, it was protection. In another way, it was oppression. Besides the images (symbols) that we receive, that orchestras are for whites because we are not seen there, the ones who aspire to perform on stage are subject to other forms of discrimination, the most obvious being verbal. If someone purposefully and publicly degrades us, with whom do we ally? If there is no one, is that argument strong enough to warrant racially-divided orchestras? Or should we persist in thinking that through our presence will come understanding and acceptance? What do you choose to ignore and why?  No. 2 : Remember when older white people used to refer to younger whites with long hair as "hippies" and that was an insult? If your hair is different, people will talk regardless of race. No. 1 : Maestro Tanner has since cut his locks off. I'm not saying that one is the direct result of the other or if he succumbed to the thought that locks weren't professional or a myriad of other reasons, but anyway, his head is clean cut. For what it's worth. |
However, the comments were not a matter of misunderstanding the intricacies of a hairdo. Referred to as "Buckwheat"... well. Let's get down to who exactly Buckwheat is. Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, a Black character from one of my favorite black and white (the picture—although indicative of the racial makeup of the cast) kiddy shows back in the day, The Little Rascals, the name-caller obviously meant to scoff and offend. Was it racially tinged? Well, you form your own opinion but I say it was an outmoded reference to a children’s television character, a Hollywood pickaninny caricature from 1929-1938, whose hair was kinky and whose skin was a beautiful shiny opal set against his diamond white teeth. Oh Buckwheat… He oftentimes had little bows in his hair and when he was frightened of something, his hair stood straight up into the air as if electrified. I loved it when his hair stood on end. It was hilarious to me. 
So perhaps whoever said it was attempting humor. (I’m not that naïve, mind you. I’m just playing devil’s advocate.) Yup, racially-tinged humor with maybe only a passing knowledge of the original television series and more knowledge of the Saturday Night Live skits in which Eddie Murphy portrayed the garbled English-speaking Buckwheat. Was it a stereotype when Eddie Murphy did it? He was very funny, but then again, he’s a funny guy. Thinking back, I was slightly embarrassed to watch him do that skit when there were white people present. I thought perhaps they would look at me that way too… Was it better for Eddie Murphy to do it than, say, Steve Martin who was also on SNL and also very funny? Sure. But Steve Martin would’ve had to put on a “black face,” which would have had all of the African American community yelling "minstrelsy!!!" So I have to think that if we can’t learn to laugh at the past, it will always plague us and always have meaning. 
Tangent: Speaking of words being given significant meaning, most often symbols are as well. This summer the NAACP held | < Prev | Next > |
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