We Need a Resolution...♥

I’m taking a History of Jazz course this semester, and my professor is actually a famous jazz musician, Professor Jon Hendricks. It’s so interesting to hear the events of this genre’s history from a first-hand source, rather than simply reading about it from a textbook…I think it's an honor, because it must be hard to attempt giving knowledge to the blissfully ignorant...
I’ve become increasingly disturbed and, quite frankly, disgusted by some of the behaviors of my classmates. I attend a predominantly White university, and the majority of my class is made up of White students. My professor is a Black man who served in the US Army during World War II, at a time when Blacks had never been treated as humans in America. That is, until they arrived overseas. This professor shares his personal memories and experiences with our class, and it makes me so angry that as soon as he begins touching the issue of the racism America carries to this very day, there are students who are so disrespectful that they’ll get up in the middle of Professor Hendricks’ lectures and leave the class. I mean, I thought maybe the first time it happened that there was a coincidence, that maybe they all had to get to another class for an exam or something…it’s college. Who knows. But when it happened again during a documentary on Professor Hendricks that our class was watching, then again today…well, let’s just say that’s a lot of coincidence.

The question the professor was responding to dealt with why so many European countries and cultures have respect and admiration for jazz music, but Americans don’t. Jazz is an American art form…something that southern African-Americans brought to this culture. Yet, because of the hatred and refusal to accept that something this beautiful could come from a bunch of n*ggers, America can’t even appreciate the art of jazz. It’s really sad. This is all my professor tried to explain, and we’ve got ignorant people who can’t even bear to listen to what the real deal is about this country. We’re a nation built on hate and discrimination. It’s part of history. Ignoring it, putting your fingers in your ear and singing “Lalalalalalala” isn’t going to make that fact go away! We’re the only nation that has virtually NO culture, and the little culture we do have gets rejected because the very people who were forcefully brought over here came up with a way to express themselves culturally… We’d rather imitate other cultures and try to assimilate them into our lives, than to acknowledge what was created on our own soil….SMH.
x0x0♥