“…. and all that jazz….”

I took some time off from the new administration’s breakneck speed of dismantling the nation’s institutions. It was a welcome relief to revel in being disconnected from the daily barrage of chaos and cacophony of unharmonious blathering, and just breathe before rejoining the descent into the unknown.

I was on The Jazz Cruise to celebrate the 25th anniversary of straight ahead jazz, which featured many headliners. There were more than 100 musicians on board.

First, a few declarations: Jazz is an original American art form, its roots stemming from African traditional music, the blues, and other diverse musical styles it has absorbed and transformed over decades.

Secondly, jazz, while difficult to define, is primarily recognized for being “improvisational”- a hallmark of how it, and how Black folk have survived in the USA.

I was struck by a recurring theme in the messages and the music throughout the week: peace and humanitarianism.

For instance, no less than three different jazz artists vocalists, instrumentalists, and various interpretations riffed on a song originally written for the Broadway musical and movie, South Pacific, which was controversial at that time for depicting an “interracial” love story between American whites and Polynesians.

It was written in 1949. Segregation was still the law of the USA; interracial was illegal.

The song, “You Have to be Carefully Taught," by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein, has stood the test of time. It was famously recorded by James Taylor in 2002, and is still being sung and recorded to this day. Here are the lyrics, which loudly resonate in the face of what is happening today:

“You’ve got to be carefully taught to hate and fear

You’ve got to be taught from year to year

It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear

You’ve got to be carefully taught You’ve got to be taught to be afraid Of people whose eyes are oddly made

And people whose skin is a different shade

You’ve got to be carefully taught You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late

Before you are six or seven or eight To hate all the people your relatives hate

You’ve got to be carefully taught You’ve got to be carefully taught.”

I teared up each time I heard another version of that simple song, how that important message was incorporated into the daily mantras of so many artists throughout the cruise. Then, I returned home to escalating discord.

One of the first pieces of news I heard hit me hard: replacement of the Palestinians from Gaza to rebuild the area into another “Riviera."

Ethnic cleansing 101: Step one, declare it.

This pending horror is not a new protocol for the USA. Let us not forget The American Indian Removal Act, adopted in 1830 under President Andrew Jackson, whose portrait was prominently displayed in the Oval Office during Trump’s first term, and has been brought back. More than 50,000 natives were removed from eastern states to what is now Oklahoma, then a barren land. History marks this episode by recounting the suffering of the Cherokee nation along a “trail of tears.”

Step two, normalize the behavior.

I fear that the children who are now six or seven or eight will think that it is okay to “hate” folk who generations of their relatives hate; that they are being carefully taught. A blazing example is how wholesale pardons were given to more than 1,500 of those convicted of participating in the attempted coup on Jan. 6, 2021. The most notorious, Enrique Torres, initially sentenced to 22 years, now pardoned, has declared his intent to run for political office. It’s another carefully taught lesson in normalizing hateful behavior.

Step three, speak and write about atrocities, like ethnic cleansing, as if it is mainstream. Words like “development” allude to something desirable. Insurrectionists are now referred to as “hostages’’ and "heroes," and the US president is in support of permanently “relocating” the Palestinians of Gaza somewhere else! Ironically, Trump is offering refugee status to “Afrikaners”–descendants of Europeans–who he claims are being unfairly treated by the South African government.

Go figure.

So, what should be our position moving forward?

Black folk have always played the music of truth, and even though the notes may sound confused at times, it has always been about avoiding the binding constriction of norms.

And then the (musical) revolution was televised during the Super Bowl halftime when Kendrick Lamar and Uncle Samuel Jackson reminded all that “they not like us."

It was pure jazz.

Toniwg1@gmail.com