Back in my college days (the baggy 90's) the state of California unleashed a campaign of anti-Latino and anti-brown people propositions, evidently because we had taken up too much space at public universities, too much tax funded resources, and too much education curriculum. Proposition 187 (not to be confused with the original version of the Dr. Dre song Deep Cover, called "187", or the producer Dr. Dre ripped off the g-funk sound from, Cold 187um) was governor candidate Pete Wilson's way of making immigrants and Latinos the body snatchers invading our state coming for your kids, their money, their safety, and more. Proposition 209 was Wardell Connerly's way of making sure if you were not white, you were reminded as such and stayed out of college. And a software millionare named Ron Unz decided he knew more about how humans learn language and promoted proposition 227, which smacked kids across the hands with a ruler whenever they didn't speak English. Over time proposition 187 was thrown out by the court (but Pete Wilson did not have to give back his throne), and proposition 227 was reversed by proposition 58 in 2016. Not many things went well in 2016: Prince, Bobby Hutcherson, Bill Nunn, David Bowie, George Martin, Muhammed Ali, Sharon Jones, Merle Haggard, John Glenn, and many others decided "Earth sucks" and died that year.
An attempt to repeal Proposition 209 in 2020 failed. Shocker. Anti-Latinoism is like a fad that comes and goes depending on the price of gasoline at the pump, but good old fashioned anti-Blackness is baked into the walls and roads of every school and state in our nation. The myth continues, and don't let those of us who have succeeded without it dissuade you in any way as they pull up the ladder behind them. In fact, the "how" of making ones way up and through has to be the worst lie we've ever told each other, reinforced with whatever story we want to tell each other.
In those same 90's I sat on the floor of a common area of a dorm one evening to hear a jazz band performance. Why in the hell was a jazz band performing in the TV lounge of a musty old dorm? These were grown ass people, professional adults, not some student group barnstorming through the greater Los Angeles co-ed scene. The group was led by a jazz clarinetist named Buddy Collette. You can look him up (he passed in 2010) but he is a historically significant figure in the performing music and jazz scene, especially on the West Coast. Aside from being one of Charlie Mingus' friends and teacher, aside from being a fine reedman (clarinet, flute, saxophone) he was the first black musician to perform alongside white performers on TV, for the Groucho Marx show You Bet Your Life. The show got angry letters for his presence. Later he went on to perform in a number of bands, from Chico Hamilton to Frank Sinatra to Ella Fitzgerald, and was faculty at a number of universities in SoCal. Thankful he was not one of Woody Allen's favorite clarinetists.
And here he was, three feet in front of me as I sat cross legged on the floor in front of him. His saxophone had a wonderful, warm tone, and he was gracious with the packed room. In 1961 he had gone on a European tour, and only a few years ago a compilation of these lost live recordings was released. Called the Complete 1961 Milano Sessions, his band consisted of some relatively unknown US musicians and some Italian performers as well. Much like the picture at the top of this post, an actual jazz club in Milan, Italy, he performed for audiences during a time of massive social strife. He was welcomed to the fashion capital of the world while not being able to cross the threshold of community centers in South Carolina.
These days, to see someone of his caliber and ability you have to gain access through an overpriced club in a large metropolitan city that usual requires you to pay $18 for a drink of This Was Better At Home. There is a fetishizing of jazz these days as a type of classical museum art piece, and the countless performances I have attended in a variety of these clubs and spaces has been stark. This music swings, and these audiences DO NOT MOVE. What these audiences look like I will save for another day, but dammit. And here was Buddy, with the heart of a musician and educator, playing warm standards for a bunch of 20 year old kids who didn't know the danger he faced doing that exact same thing 50 years before.
My challenge to many is to ask how are we doing the same? Prop 209 is still on the books, because the threat of having students who are not white in these academic clubs called colleges and universities is too unnerving to who? Why? Some have called this election a backlash, but can it be a backlash if the sentiment and law has always been the same? And who else is going to join me in the Buddy Collette fan club? We take applications, hired until filled.
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