What the hell does this subject have to do with Infantilism? Not a damn thing, except that it's a subject that concerns me - Tommy. It's been 30 or more years since the Equal Rights Amendment and about the same amount of time since Dr. King's famous "I Have A Dream" speech. Has any progress been made? Are African Americans better off today? Hardly, I think. They are killing themselves with drugs and guns. They are no more part of our culture than they were 30 years ago, and vice-versa. Why? What have we done wrong? What have they done wrong? I don't really think we have made any progress at all. Maybe we can't. Maybe you think that I'm a prejudiced, racist son-of-a-bitch. Well, I'm not! Let me tell you a story.
I was drafted into the Army shortly after the Korean war. (OK, so you know I'm older than you thought. Well, you're wrong. In many ways I'm younger than you). Anyway, there I was at Fort Dix in New Jersey in Basic Training. I was a skinny, 128 pound weakling among big, husky guys. One night I got into a conversation with one of the other big, husky guys. We were talking about the "problem" with colored people (as they were called in those days). I expressed my opinions about ways to improve the situation, and he expressed his. We were more of less in agreement.
Suddenly I stood back in shock. I looked at him closely. "I'll be damned", I thought to myself. "I've been talking to a colored person, a black man, an African American (as they prefer to be called today)". During the entire conversation I was totally unaware that I was talking to a black man. That was because my viewpoint towards colored people was so positive that I DID NOT see, and was NOT aware of, any difference between me and him. He appeared to me as just another person, not as someone of a different color. I tell you this only to show that I was certainly NOT filled with any prejudice at that time, never have been, and never will be.
A few year later I married a wonderful girl. One of the things we shared was a LOVE for black music. This was at a time that love of black music was not usual for white folks. Lucille and I loved to go to black churches and listen and grove on Gospel music. Many Saturdays we would do go Harlem in New York and spend the afternoon at the Apollo theater on 125th Street in the middle of this large black community. We were usually the ONLY white folks in the theater. We loved listening to the black Rhythm and Blues music that was popular at the time (among blacks) and which became one of the building blocks of the Rock and Roll era. We were ready to make this music part of our life. I also looked forward to a future time when blacks and white people would share their cultures with each other (including music), and would learn to love and respect each other.
Now I must move ahead many, many years to the present. Today I am fortunate to be able to attend symphony concerts and operas in San Francisco. I love music, obviously. But something bothers me terribly. When I attend these concerts, I NEVER see any black people there. Usually not even one. Although concerts and operas are expensive, I know that there are black people who could afford to attend. But they don't. Why? Why did I spent part of my life learning to love and appreciate "black" music, while my black brothers do not want to learn and appreciate "white" music. Something is wrong, and I wish I knew what it was.
I'm afraid that the situation is even worse than I have described so far! During the years before I was born, and during my lifetime, the influence of black music on the American musical scene has been both positive and exciting. Beginning with Ragtime and continuing with Dixieland, Jazz, Rhythm and Blues and Rock, people of color have added a great dimension to American music. In a great sense, they have almost created American music.
But something is going terribly, terribly wrong today. Today's black culture is giving us Rap music, a very negative, downbeat form of music mostly about death and drugs and horror. This music seems like a step backward. It is music of misery and hopelessness. You might say it reflects the misery and hopelessness of the African American community. If so, why?
Where is the music of Harlem that I loved years ago. Where is the culture that I wanted to learn and understand. What have we, as Americans, done wrong? What has the African community done wrong? I don't know. But there is one thing that I do know.
I know this. When all of us (white and black) do things right - then I will once again groove on going to a concert given in a black community. And when I go to an Opera I know that part of the audience will be black. Then I will know then that we will be going in the right direction.
As for now, I have my doubts. We are we doing something terribly wrong - all of us, black and white. What is it? I wish I knew.
Love, Tommy