JAVS Summer 2021
I grew up with the Black Panthers, with the Food for Youths programs, with Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam and his rise to validity in the Black community. It’s so ironic that with such incredible and vital moments in our history, a lot has been taken for granted, co-opted into popular culture, or blended into a national amnesia. Brief inroads were made, of which I’m a proud result of to a certain degree: equal opportunity, scholarships, etc. I never paid a dime for school, but along with that came the baggage like “you only get this because you’re Black, not because you’re good enough.” There is an undercurrent of inferiority, and other “underlying costs” that came with those benefits. After I spent weeks of crying, I thought, well, what personal experience can I bring to this moment in time? In my musings, I remembered that “We Shall Overcome” was very much a part of my upbringing. It was sung at all the rallies, along with “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” We sang it at school, we sang it at demonstrations and at church. It was very much part of my experience as a Black child. So, being a musician, I thought, that was the song. What can we do with it?
Why did you bring your students into it?
As I am experiencing these events passing me by, I was thinking, well, what is helpful in keeping my life current? What keeps me grounded? What gives my life relevance? My family and my students! My students and my relationships with other people are a constant reminder as to why I exist. I don’t exist because I’m Black, I exist to be of use to other living beings. And as a person, I need other people. Teaching is basically a form of caretaking. That’s all it is, really. You evolve and learn a set of skills, and then you pass it on. It’s happened in every trade, everywhere. In doing that we also teach values we have learned and how we manifest them in our music and our lives. Those values are not always innate or equal in all of us. They have to be taught, learned, and practiced like anything else. I knew that my students would be looking for ways of expressing their hurt and their anger, asking, “what can we do?” I have had students who had already marched and were tear-gassed. Not all of us choose to do that, so what can we do?
The central image of a tree, with George Taylor at the roots, as videos of his students gradually fill the screen. Screenshot from 3:34 of the YouTube video, We Shall, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk8xduZTSmI
Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 37, 2021 Online Issue
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