What Have I Done to Help End Racism?
I talk about Black Lives Matter. I correct people when they try to respond with All Lives Matter. I say:
“Yes, they do, but black lives have mattered less and we have to admit to that and then actively shift the balance of priority to cover all lives equally…that shift requires us to prioritize black lives simply so they become of EQUAL importance to all those who have been held superior.”
But I talk and I discuss, and I try to reach people one person at a time. I admit to participating in systemic racism, whether intentional or not, being racist myself. Before you argue that point, it does not matter what anyone intends or hopes for, we have ALL done/said/acted in a manner that is racist. You have to admit there’s a problem before you can change. I have admitted, but have I done enough?
As A Dance Educator, Have I Done Enough?
Learning jazz dance means learning American history.
I would say this to students of mine at FSU. This led to discussing race and discussing systemic racism, the exact system that also means white males are still being exalted as jazz dance pioneers when the real heroes of jazz dance are people of color. I cannot teach American dance forms without also teaching American history. The history of jazz dance is racist and messy, but that is also America’s history. You wanna teach the form without the history? That’s misappropriation. You wanna talk about dance but not discuss racism and racism’s inherent affect on dance? You’re wrong.
Dance educators MUST discuss race.
Most US colleges and universities do not accept American dance forms of jazz, tap, and hip hop as art. They will sell classes in these styles to non-majors, many times utilizing as teachers of these forms graduate students with not only no background in these forms but also little respect for them. The forms are good enough to use to make money from, but not good enough to be taught to dance majors. College dance programs in the United States insist that jazz dance is not important. That discussion and real education in American dance forms is not important. That learning the history of our forms as Americans is not important.
When I taught jazz dance to non-dance majors at FSU, I sat the class down and said “how many of you believe that racism is still an issue and we are still being directly impacted by a system of hierarchical racism?” Mostly white students looked back at me and a few raised their hands. For the students of color, I saw looks of disbelief at all the hands not raised and looks of resignation. Those resigned were prepared for this conversation to go nowhere. Instead, we talked. We talked many days, had classroom discussions, and as a class, came to accept that racism is inherent even in how dance is taught and performed. Some of those students may not have thought about it before, but I know even now, those students still think differently about what they do and how they move. Awareness was all I was asking of them, and not only did they grow more aware, but I also learned even more about what race means for their generation: the distinct polarization between knowing and not knowing.
I made myself vulnerable in those conversations. I listened. I did not censor. We cannot censor these important discussions surrounding race and its effect on dance. Not SHOULD not: CAN NOT.
I am done with being part of any system in place that denies us, Americans and human beings, an opportunity to discuss and evolve.
What Else Can I Do?
Become Anti-Racist.
What could it mean to be truly anti-racist? What can I do to help support those who are harmed every day by this system?
Tomorrow, June 2nd, I will be suspending all of my dance classes.
The Music Industry will be showing solidarity by blacking out all live events and streaming online. This means my dance classes, based in American vernacular forms, will also be suspended for the day.
Starting Wednesday, I will be donating funds generated from my dance classes for the remainder of the week to this incredible organization, which is naming, disrupting, and dismantling white supremacy: Dismantle Collective.
Please join me in silence tomorrow, and then join me in the joy of dancing for a great cause afterwards.