MFE's Songs for Justice: Observations, Reflections and Lessons Learned: Race as a Social Construct

“Race is the child of racism, not the father.”

Ta-Nehisi Coates

According to Merriam-Webster (Merriam-Webster.com), a “social construct” is “an idea that has been created and accepted by the people in a society.” In other words, they are shared ideas or perceptions that exist only because people in a group or society choose to accept them. Or, to put a finer point on it. Social constructs are created out of thin air. They are made up and promoted to where a segment of society accepts them as having meaning or as truths. For example, the idea that pink is for girls and blue is for boys is an example of a social construct related to gender. There is however, absolutely no data or scientific research behind this notion or belief.

Race is a social construct. It is a system of stratification based on the belief that some racial groups are superior to other racial groups.

Anthropology and human evolutionary biology prove that all humans are of the same type, species, and kind. Research has shown a lack of genetic difference between racial groups. In other words, the difference between whites and Blacks is literally only skin deep. Under the skin, we are no different. We’re essentially genetically identical. Yet, why is the notion of the racial inferiority of POC so prevalent?

Historically, the notion of creating human hierarchies around constructs such as race, ethnicity or groups was not created in America. It can be traced back to Aristotle. Ibrahm X. Kendhi references this in his work Stamped From the Beginning. He writes:

“In studying Aristotle’s philosophy, Puritans learned rationales for human hierarchy, and they began to believe that some groups were superior to other groups. In Aristotle’s case, ancient Greeks were superior to all non-Greeks. But Puritans believed they were superior to Native Americans, the African people, and even Anglicans – that is all non-Puritans. Aristotle, who lived from 384 to 322 BCE, concocted a climate theory to justify Greek superiority, saying that extreme hot or cold climates produced intellectually, physically, and morally inferior people who were ugly and lacked the capacity for freedom and self-government…All of this was in the interest of normalizing Greek slaveholding practices and Greece’s rule over the western Mediterranean…”Humanity is divided into two: the masters and the slaves, or, if one prefers it, the Greeks and the Barbarians, those who have the right to command; and those who are born to obey.” (P. 17).

While the notion or concept of a human hierarchy social construct did not originate in America, it was a notion that prevailed in white society when the first enslaved Africans arrived on our shores in 1619. And that notion was repurposed for the New World by whites, who promoted and perpetuated the narrative about Black “inferiority” to placate their guilt for their unjust and utterly cruel treatment of Black people.

Robin DiAngelo explains it as follows, “Freedom and equality – regardless of religion or class status – were radical new ideas when the United States was formed. At the same time, the US economy was based on the abduction and enslavement of African people, the displacement and genocide of Indigenous people and the annexation of Mexican lands…The tension between the noble ideology of equality and the reality of genocide, enslavement and colonization had to be reconciled….The idea of racial inferiority was created to justify unequal treatment; belief in racial inferiority is not what triggered unequal treatment.” White Fragility P15 – 16.

The most powerful passage I’ve read about race being a social construct belongs to Lillian Smith. Smith was considered by many to be the foremost white liberal writer of the mid-twentieth century. Her book Killers of the Dream, first published in 1978, is one of the most powerful critiques of the pre-1960’s American South. Here’s what she wrote:

“Hypocrisy, greed, self-righteousness, defensiveness twisted in men’s minds. The South grew more sensitive to criticism, more defensive and dishonest in its thinking. For deep down in their hearts, southerners knew they were wrong. They knew it in slavery as they later knew that sharecropping was wrong, and as they know now that segregation is wrong…Our grandparents called themselves Christians and sometimes believed they were. Believing it, they were compelled to believe it was morally right for them to hold slaves. They could not say, ‘We shall keep our slaves because they are profitable, regardless of right and wrong.” P. 61.

And this is where it gets really interesting as she essentially implies that southerners used the excuse that God allowed them to enslave Black people.

She continues, “Our grandfathers’ conscience compelled them to justify slavery and they did; by making the black man ‘different’, setting him outside God’s law, reducing him to less than human…they took God’s place and ‘decided’ which of His creatures have souls and which do not. And once doing it, they continued doing it, and their sons continued doing it, and their grandsons, telling themselves and their children more and more and more lies about white superiority until they no longer knew the truth and were lost in a maze of fantasy and falsehood that had little resemblance to the actual world they lived in.” p. 61.

At risk of over simplifying, as a nation we couldn’t square our supposed fundamental principles of Christianity and America’s promise of all men being created equal when we were enslaving Blacks. The powers that be (a society controlled by whites) had to come up with a theory or “proof” that it was okay to enslave Blacks because they were somehow “inferior”. Whites needed to create a justification for their exploitation; a justification that would excuse their cruelty. Eventually, when enough white folks, including political and business leaders as well as some scientists, developed and promoted this notion of inferiority, it eventually became, at least in the white world, accepted as fact.

“The beneficiaries of slavery, segregation and mass incarceration have produced racist ideas of Black people being best suited for or deserving of the confines of slavery, segregation, or the jail cell”, adds Ibrahm X. Kendi in Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. “Consumers of these racist ideas have been led to believe there is something wrong with Black people, and not the policies that have enslaved, oppressed, and confined so many Black people.” (p. 10)

In other words, it’s not Black people, who are responsible for the inequalities and the negative life consequences and outcomes that result from those inequalities, but rather it’s the policies that lead to such social, economic and health disparities. And here’s the rub as Kendi sees it. If we in fact believe, as our Constitution suggests, that we are all created equal, then the wide disparity in the conditions can only be the result of systemic discrimination.

Or, in the words of Michael Eric Dyson, “After more than a century of enlightened study, we know that race is not just something that falls from the sky, it is, as anthropologists say, a fabricated idea. But that doesn’t mean that race doesn’t have material consequences and empirical weight. It simply means that if we constructed it, we can get about the business of deconstructing it.” Dyson, Tears we Cannot Stop p. 67.

If we can make up a social construct around the inferiority of Blacks, we can also create, promote and perpetuate an alternative social construct around the notion of justice and equity for all, including Black Americans. That will take a lot of work. The question is whether we are willing to do the work necessary to create and perpetuate that alternative construct.

MFE's Songs for Justice: Observations, Reflections and Lessons Learned - Color-Blindness

“We would like to get to a point in our society where people really are color blind and this message would not have to be told anymore. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet.

Harry Connick, Jr.

How often have you heard someone claim to be “color blind”?

I’ve always been uncomfortable with this notion. While the intent is understandable and noble, how can you NOT notice someone’s skin color? It’s the first thing you see when you meet someone new. That said, it never occurred to me that saying and believing you are color blind can actually be harmful.

Various writers have taken on this issue and most agree that there is no such thing as color blindness when it comes to race. The following is my general interpretation regarding what I have learned about this notion from writers such as Michelle Alexander, Heather McGhee, Robin DiAngelo and Layla F. Saad. Alexander writes, “…to aspire to colorblindness is to aspire to a state of being in which you are not capable of seeing racial difference – a practical impossibility for most of us…The colorblindness ideal is premised on the notion that as a society we can never be trusted to see race and treat each other fairly or with genuine compassion. A commitment to color consciousness, by contrast, places faith in our capacity as humans to show care and concern for others, even as we are fully cognizant of race and possible racial differences…It is easier to imagine a world in which we tolerate racial differences by being blind to them.

“The uncomfortable truth, however, is that racial differences will always exist among us. Even if the legacies of slavery, Jim Crow and mass incarceration were completely overcome, we would remain a nation of immigrants (and indigenous people) in a larger world divided by race and ethnicity….For the foreseeable future, racial and ethnic inequality will be a feature of American life.“ pp. 302 – 3.

Alexander’s clarity on this point was extremely helpful as it crystallized my thinking on why it never made sense how people could claim to be “colorblind”. But it is her next point that was an “Ah Hah!” moment. She assures us that that while we may never reach a total, idealistic world of perfect racial equality, it is not a cause for alarm or despair. She goes on to point out the danger in such thinking.

“What is concerning is the real possibility that we, as a society, will choose not to care. We will choose to be blind to injustice and the suffering of others. We will look the other way and deny our public agencies the resources, data, and tools they need to solve problems. We will refuse to celebrate what is beautiful about our distinct cultures and histories even as we blend and evolve. That is cause for despair.”

“Seeing race is not the problem. Refusing to care for the people we see is the problem. The fact that the meaning of race may evolve over time or lose much of its significance is hardly a reason to be struck blind. We should hope not for a colorblind society but instead for a world in which we can see each other fully, learn from each other, and do what we can to respond to each other with love. That was King’s dream – a society that is capable of seeing each of us, as we are, with love. That is a goal worth fighting for.” P. 303

This leads to a point made by Heather McGhee in, “The Sum of Us”. McGhee writes that what we are really doing when we claim to be “color blind” is to dismiss or deny that racism exists. In other words, it’s providing another excuse for whites not to accept accountability and responsibility to learn and grow as it applies to how we view and treat people of other races.

She writes: “Color blindness has become a powerful weapon against progress for people of color, but as a denial mindset, it doesn’t do white people any favors, either. A person who avoids the realities of racism doesn’t build the crucial muscles for navigating cross-cultural tensions or recovering with grace from missteps. That person is less likely to listen deeply to unexpected ideas expressed by people from other cultures or to do the research on her own to learn about her blind spots. When that person then faces the inevitable uncomfortable racial reality – an offended co-worker, a presentation about racial disparity at a PTA meeting, her inadvertent use of a stereotype – she’s caught flat-footed. Denial leaves people ill-prepared to function or thrive in a diverse society.” (p. 230)

Or phrased another way, Cornell West, philosopher, political activist, social critic and public intellectual, writes in his foreword to The New Jim Crow, “Martin Luther King Jr. called on us to be lovestruck with each other, not colorblind toward each other. To be lovestruck is to care, to have deep compassion, and to be concerned for each and every individual, including the poor and the vulnerable.” P. xlix

In short, no one is color blind. Claiming otherwise, while well intended, is disingenuous and counter-productive. As such, it’s okay to admit to the fact that you do see color. We should acknowledge our differences if we are ever going to begin to work on building bridges between those differences. Rather, we need to see, accept and love each other. Not only should we stop using that term, but more important, we should think about why we no longer should use that term.

MFE’s Songs For Justice: Observations, Reflections and Lessons Learned - Improvisation as a Social Justice Survival Skill

Jazz, blues and basketball are very similar in feel, vibe, attitude and practice. To start, they are all Black dominated cultures. They also require ongoing communication and cooperation among team mates and band mates as both players and musicians are literally making things up as they go. While there is structure that provides some guidelines around a piece of jazz and, for that matter, a particular system of offense in basketball, that structure simply provides a loose foundation for the song or the offense. Using that foundation as a jumping off point, the rest is improvisational.

It’s the challenge of balancing that structure with the freedom to improvise and create on the spot that is the Holy Grail of all three. When that balance is achieved, the result is transformational art and pure magic. They are also similar in how players and musicians are much less interested in the color of the team mate or band mate than whether he or she can play. As John Hammond (1910 – 1987), the legendary record producer, civil rights activist and music critic said, “I hear no color in Jazz.”

Learning how to improvise, whether in jazz, blues or basketball, provides a great foundation for being able to navigate various situations and circumstances off the bandstand and courts of play. For example, when you find yourself a minority in a different or unfamiliar environment or culture where the rules are made by others, you must thoughtfully improvise to survive. Improvisation is required because you do not control the social, cultural or situational environment. If the attitudes, behaviors, mores and communication nuances are new or different from the culture or environment within which you are comfortable, you must open your mind to those differences and improvise to accommodate them. To succeed as a team or band or, for that matter, a company or organization, everyone must find a way to navigate differences and come together as a unit.

As white men, virtually every single situation we encounter occurs in an environment where the basic rules of engagement have been established and maintained by white men. To put it in basketball terms, as white men, we are playing all of our games on our “home” court. When it’s your home court, you make the rules. As the visiting team, you have to accept, understand and navigate those rules, regardless of how different they may be from the rules at your home court. If you are unsuccessful in navigating those unfamiliar rules, you lose and have to sit on the sidelines or go home.

This challenge of having to navigate a culture or environment that you are unfamiliar with was one of the most powerful lessons I learned through basketball, as I often found myself on a team in which I was in a distinct minority. As a white person in the basketball culture, I learned that I was not in a position to dictate the rules of engagement or interaction. Navigating an unfamiliar culture with different rules is a challenge, to say the least. You are always on a knife’s edge regarding what you say and how you act because, in essence, you are the low man on the totem pole. But you have no choice. That’s your reality. If you want to survive and succeed, you have to figure it out.

That said however, I also knew that once I left my basketball environment, I could return to a comfortable environment in which people who looked like me made all the rules. Think about how difficult, challenging and absolutely exhausting it must be for people of color to have to navigate an environment and culture in which all of the rules of engagement are made by white men. And to have to do that virtually every hour of every day of every year for your entire life? Virtually every aspect of American culture, from our school systems to our legal system, to health care, to government itself has been established and maintained by white males. For people of color, having to navigate that pervasive and unrelenting system is a full-time, 24/7/365/days a year job. That is the reality for POC in America. Talk about exhausting! That is something that white people should acknowledge, thoughtfully consider and attempt to understand because it is something we virtually never have had to deal with.

MFE’s Songs For Justice: Observations, Reflections and Lessons Learned - Diversity is a Strength

The impact of our Songs For Justice project on MFE as a whole has been transformational. It has introduced us to a much wider and more diverse community from which to draw upon as we move forward as an organization. Similar to a gumbo, the additional new and diverse people (“spices”) we’ve added to our mix has made us a much stronger and effective organization. Making the commitment to embrace and work toward a diverse and inclusive company or CBO is not about “charity”. It is about business. While that alone is enough reason to embrace diversity, there are also practical business and organizational benefits that accrue as a result of those efforts. In other words, embracing diversity is not only the right thing to do, it is also the smart thing to do.

For example, one of the things that our board has committed to is increasing diversity of the board, employees, volunteers and vendors we use. Through the new contacts we’ve made, we have been able to identify several people of color to join our board and committee structure and also have a more diverse list of vendors and subcontractors we can partner with as we move forward.

Whether as an individual, business or CBO, it is important to periodically take an unvarnished, honest look in the mirror. Such honest self-reflection can reveal uncomfortable truths about yourself or your organization. Unfortunately, we do not do that often enough. It can be quite painful when, after such honest self-examination, you find that you might not be living up to the standards and ideals you profess to believe in and act upon.

For example, we began a 360-degree review of our policies, procedures and bylaws as well as criteria and goals for strategically diversifying the organization. There is no question that these measures have made us a much better organization. But the fact is, we should have made these efforts to become more diverse long ago. While we have had POC on our board, we were not very directional and strategic regarding our diversity efforts and how that diversity could be leveraged to more effectively meet our mission. Why didn’t we? In a word, we (particularly me as executive director) were, quite frankly, lazy. I take full responsibility for that.

This is what I mean by lazy. The vast majority of children and families we serve are children and families of color. While we may not have consciously thought this, I’ve come to realize that, subconsciously, we were using that as an excuse to not feel any sense of urgency to become more diverse organizationally. We used that fact as a “free pass” on having to make a serious, top to bottom, commitment to diversity. After much reflection, self-assessment and critique we have come to the realization that precisely because we serve primarily children and families of color we should have an organization that reflects the diversity of that cohort. By not doing so, we were underperforming as it applied to fully leveraging our resources to best serve our main constituents. For an organization that is committed to serve that population, this was a painful realization. How could we think we were serving a particular cohort to the best of the organization’s ability if we did not have much organizational representation of that cohort? How can an overwhelmingly white organization think that they are most effectively serving a population consisting largely of POC without a strong presence of POC throughout the organization? In short, we were lazy. While we are proud of the work we have done, I lament the fact that we could have done more and done it more effectively had we been a more diverse organization.

That said, we are already a better, stronger and more effective organization because of the SFJ project. It’s another example of how diversity equals strength.

For example, one of my favorite MFE programs is our summer camp. Generally, we offer 2 – 3 weeks of camp, each week hosting approximately 100 children. I love this program so much that in 2019, I participated in the camp…as a camper. I was a member of the percussion section, along with four students, all of whom were no older than 12. It was a blast!

The camp is free and open to anyone, although we do target the kids who participate in our after-school programs, which consists largely of POC. But because it is free and open to the public, we attract kids of all backgrounds. The director of our MFE faculty is Dr. Michael Jamanis, a Julliard trained world class violinist. Several years ago, Michael began a career transformation as he was becoming less interested in the white dominated classical music industry and was looking for a new musical direction. The timing was serendipitous as he was looking for a more meaningful way to employ his musical talents and we were looking for someone to start our music education programming. He began going into schools and working alongside teachers and directly with students. He fell in love with working with this diverse group of students. This morphed into him creating an after-school strings program as well as a summer camp program. Along the way, he became increasingly interested in leveraging music as a tool to highlight and educate regarding issues relating to social justice.

Over the years, due to his extraordinary efforts, we have slowly built an MFE faculty, which now includes two full-time instructors as well as several independent contractors and many volunteers. As he became more involved with us, his interest in and commitment to using music as a tool to promote justice and equity continued to grow. To that end, he pushed us to join the El Sistema organization. El Sistema is a music education program founded in Venezuela in 1975 by Venezuela educator, musician and activist Jose Antonio Abreu. One of the major focuses of the organization is using music to promote social change.

We began our relationship with El Sistema before the George Floyd murder. So, in that sense, we were already on a path towards leveraging music as a social change agent. But since then, our relationship with El Sistema has taken on more urgency. And we are beginning to reap benefits as a result.

I witnessed the fruits of our efforts recently when attending the end-of-week summer camp concert. On stage the make-up of the students was extremely diverse (approximately 25% white, 10% Asian, 40% Hispanic and 25% Black). But just as important was the make-up of the faculty (50% white and 50% Black). While we still have room to improve as it applies to perfectly reflecting the children we serve, this represents significant progress as the students were able to see and take instruction from teachers and role models who are not simply white.

Here is something else that we have done as an organization that never would have occurred to us without the 360-degree evaluation of our operations and programs. We are in the process of upgrading our website to where it can be accessed and read in both English and Spanish. This is something we should have figured out and executed long ago. While the vast majority of the children we serve speak English, often their parents or guardians do not. That simple act, a result of our directed efforts to become a more inclusive and diverse, has made us more family friendly for Spanish speaking families and thus a much more effective organization.

Here’s the point. Achieving progress related to diversity did not just happen. We had, over the past several years, made some very intentional and directed decisions that, over time, resulted in a more diverse organization. We threw out a few seeds, watered them and, in time, they began to bear fruit. But it was a series of decisions and directed actions that laid the ground work for us to eventually become more diverse.

In short, It is not enough to acknowledge the need to become more diverse. That is simply the first step. Once acknowledged, the next step is to follow through with intentional and direct actions to achieve that diversity. Becoming more diverse as an organization is not simply about adding a few POC to the board. Rather, it is evaluating all aspects of your programs, services and structures from top to bottom. While change will not occur overnight, the fact is, it will never occur unless as you take directed, strategic actions, both big and small, to realize that diversity and, as a result, become more effective in meeting your mission.

While we still have a long way to go as it applies to enhancing our diversity as an organization, through the SFJ project we came to realize that making that commitment and taking specific, directed actions to become more diverse is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of organizational maturity and strength.

MFE’s Songs For Justice: Observations, Reflections and Lessons Learned

Introduction

Music For Everyone is a non-profit organization I founded in 2006 with a mission to “cultivate the power of music” in Lancaster County, PA. Such a broad mission, coupled with the fact that music is the universal language has allowed us a lot of flexibility in finding ways to leverage the power and potential of music for community benefit. We began by raising money to purchase instruments for schools. Since then, the organization has evolved to where we now provide instruction, offer after school and summer camp programs and engage in various music centered community building programs. Our mission has also expanded to underwriting initiatives to leverage music as an individual therapeutic and public health tool. In short, MFE’s evolution and journey has been long and interesting. It is a journey that has led to our Songs For Justice project. 

Songs For Justice was born out of the time-honored tradition related to the responsibility of artists and musicians to “bear witness” to events transpiring around them. The spark that led MFE to undertake this project was the social unrest following the murder of George Floyd at the hands, or more accurately, under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020. The first thing that businesses and organizations did in response to the widespread civil unrest that followed was to write a social Justice statement in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and place a BLM sign in their front window. While we published a very thoughtful statement, it felt hollow to us. We felt we needed to do more to act upon our convictions in a concrete way.

Our responsibility to do something beyond a justice statement was greater given the subject matter (music) we employ to make a community impact. Music's power and potential as a change agent has been a part of every social justice movement throughout history. We felt a responsibility to leverage that history and power. Most important however, was that the majority of the children and families we serve are children and families of color.  Finally, the proceeds that we generate through sponsorships and donations is being invested back into our programs to provide increased access to music education opportunities for underserved populations.

Songs For Justice is a limited-edition series of vinyl records (45s) we’ve been periodically releasing and will continue to release over the course of the next several years. Each record features a specific racial, ethnic or interest group and the issues and challenges those groups face in today’s world. Additionally, some of the records will highlight and explore issues such as criminal justice reform and voting rights. We called upon Lancaster musicians of all backgrounds to record songs “bearing witness” to what is going on in our society around issues of race, justice and equity. Those songs were placed on Side A of the record. Side B of the record includes either a historical speech on civil and human rights read by a local Lancaster personality or an original spoken word recording by a local artist. 

The project leverages the synergies between music, visual arts, poetry, photography and graphic design. Additionally, accounts and narratives regarding how the historical speeches shed a light on the issues of today, discussion questions and inspirational quotes are included as part of a 12 page insert booklet. We have attempted to be very strategic and directed in our efforts to identify and enlist contributors of all colors, all of whom are compensated. The result has been a virtual rainbow collection of diverse contributors to the project. We are also working to develop a teaching curriculum around the records. Ultimately, our goal is to spur debate with the hopes of educating and inspiring people to take action around issues of civil rights, justice and equity. 

Finally, each record highlights a Lancaster based nonprofit community benefit organization (CBO) doing affective work in the areas of justice and equity. Our aim is to provide these organizations with a platform to tell their story to the public. This is a way to build synergies among community benefit organizations for wider community impact.

It’s a big project with many moving parts. And given the sensitive and fraught subject matter, SFJ has presented many challenges. In response to those challenges and the charged atmosphere around issues of race, we needed to be strategic and intentional about doing the necessary research and groundwork in learning about the nuances of various issues and in identifying participating musicians and artists. It required a lot of honest, critical self-reflection as an organization regarding our diversity efforts.

Doing the research and reading for SFJ has also challenged me to examine my own viewpoints and commitment to social justice issues. I have always been attuned to these issues as a result of my basketball career in which I spent a lot of time in environments where I was the distinct minority. Additionally, my work at the NCAA, Southeastern Conference and my writing has centered on the issue of the exploitation of the Black athlete. Finally, the core mission of Music For Everyone is about providing access to music education opportunity for low income, underserved populations. That said, the research I've had to do as a result of the SFJ project has had a profound impact on me as I've learned an enormous amount.

The second "journey" has been MFE's. In executing this project, we have had to take a long, hard look at our organization from a diversity and inclusion standpoint. The result has been transformational as we have become much more diverse, top to bottom and, as a result, much more effective in meeting our mission. But there have been bumps and challenges along the way and, as a result, many hard lessons learned about diversity that other organizations and businesses might find of interest. 

In the end, the purpose of SFJ is to stimulate thought and discussion and to encourage and inspire all of us to reexamine our attitudes around these issues. But most important, to inspire consideration of what each of us might do to be a positive force for social justice and human dignity. 

In short, SFJ has been an enormously impactful learning experience. While I’ve learned an enormous amount about racism, I’ve also learned a lot about myself. I’ve learned just how enormous the role and influence of white privilege has played in my life. As a white man, it is so easy to take that for granted because it has been a constant, touching every part of my life for my entire life. 

I’ve also come to better understand the extent to which Black Americans have had to deal with and fight the effects and impacts of systemic racism, both big and small. It has literally been a 24/7/365/400+ battle (24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, for over 400 years). I simply cannot imagine how utterly exhausting it must be to be Black in America. 

The process of researching and writing this book involved a lot of self-reflection. The more I learned the more I needed to learn and understand. As I’ve come to find, I haven’t been as “anti-racist” or as much as a racial “ally” as I thought. I discovered many ways in which I was, with no ill intent, engaging in racist behaviors and patterns. I was forced to confront my own biases. That’s not easy. It’s been a humbling experience. This is difficult work. The challenges are enormous. And it is work that lasts for a lifetime. But it’s work that has to be done. 

It’s also been exhilarating. If you approach these issues with profound humility, an open mind and a commitment to do the necessary work, you can learn. You can grow. You can improve. In that sense the journey has been exciting and hopeful.  

With that as background and introduction, my intention is to periodically publish through this website, essays regarding the various reflections and lessons learned, both personally and for MFE as an organization, through the Songs For Justice project. I will also draw on experiences from my basketball career, work as a college athletics administrator, musician and non-profit executive. I hope you find them thoughtful, provocative and interesting.  

A Note from the 2021 Keys for the City Pianos

It is so good to be back on the streets of Lancaster!

We’re able to share our keys, notes and our cool, hip, brilliant “looks” that our talented visual artists have created and given us.

Most of all, it’s wonderful to have you — the citizens of Lancaster — once again tickling our ivories. Both the white keys and the black keys. When we all work together — the white keys, the black keys and you — we create wonderful music.

In March 2020, we were tuned up and poised to be delivered from the Benchmark Construction warehouse to the artists who were going to give us our “makeovers” before hitting the streets in May.

And then?

Well, you know the next verse to this song.

We know that the pandemic has been incredibly difficult for you. It’s been hard on us, as well. We desperately wanted to be on the streets making music with you, bringing people together through music. It’s what we do. It’s what we live for.

We missed a lot while stuck in that warehouse for a year and a half. We didn’t experience the great Community Clamor, when music exploded through the city and county to thank our health care professionals for taking care of us.

We didn’t see the bands strapped on the back of trucks bringing music to our neighborhoods.

We didn’t see the musicians doing Zoom concerts (they don’t provide us with internet access in the warehouse). And we are just now checking out the various music-themed murals around town that served as a substitute for us last summer.

Like you, we were isolated. Just us Keys for the City pianos, sitting in the dark, commiserating, not knowing what the future would hold. That can get a piano thinking. But as with any difficult or challenging situation, there are hidden opportunities.

As with you, that time in isolation provided an opportunity for some serious contemplation and self-reflection about who we are, what we do and what’s truly important.

What we came to more fully understand and appreciate is that investment in music and the arts is more important than ever.

Throughout the pandemic, it was music and the arts that stepped to the forefront as a healing agent, keeping us connected during difficult and unsettling times. While it has been science and medicine that have helped us survive COVID-19, it has been music and the arts that have gotten us through it.

And we will continue to do so, because that’s what we do.

Our return represents another step in achieving something resembling normalcy. So please gather around and enjoy us. Let us help rebuild the connections that were severed and let us continue to help our community heal.

When things return to "normal," that will mean, for us, fighting against continued cuts in music programs, because music is more than notes played and songs sung. In other words, music is more than simply music.

Music is essential as an educational, healing and community-building tool. We hope you don’t forget how, when things were looking very dark, musicians and artists stepped up to fill the voids left by the isolation, pain, uncertainty and loss inflicted by the pandemic.

Perhaps the greatest lesson we learned was that we are not simply an “extra” that is nice to have, but rather, we are essential to our lives, our schools and our community.

So play on Lancaster! Play on!

This essay appeared in the Saturday, August 14 2021 edition of the LNP News