The brutal killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis on May 25th, 2020 sent shockwaves throughout the world never seen before on such a scale. Could anyone truly remain unmoved by the cruelty exhibited by the person whose knee stood on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes? Sadly, it seems more than a few lost souls consider this a legitimate police response to a man whose crime was to pass off a fake twenty dollar bill for a pack of cigarettes. George Floyd’s brother Philonise Floyd rightly asked Congress, “what is a black life worth?”
The answer should be obvious to all: the same as anyone’s life. In a constitutional democracy, which the United States is meant to be, we are all supposed to be equal under the law! Or so we were taught. However, the killing of George Floyd is, sadly, a cruel reminder that the United States of America has never risen up to its own ideals nor applied its rules equally across the country and especially across racial lines. We knew this was true ever since Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue (to pillage and to rape), we knew it to be true since we learned of the founding fathers’ permissiveness to slavery despite their “enlightenment”, about the Civil War whose peace was always uneasy as exemplified by the assassination of the great Lincoln, the years of Jim Crow, regular lynchings, “Whites Only” and gratuitous beatings to death without condemnation (Emmett Till), the much-delayed Civil Rights movement and subsequent legislative reforms, the assassinations of civil rights leaders Medgar Evers, Malcom X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. We understood the issue was not truly resolved when the 1991 videotaped beating by cops of Rodney King was passed on a nonstop loop on CNN, and when the 1994 Crime Bill caused the greatest mass incarceration of black America ever witnessed (and that’s saying a lot). And since Apple came out with the first iPhone in 2007, we have seen countless beatings and murders live on camera (but what have we missed?). The devastating list of lives lost and families damaged due to police brutality and systemic racism in our laws and their applications is mind boggling in the 21st century alone.
Can America be proud, and hold its head high? Can America be the human rights advocate it claims to be in the world? Can America claim any moral compass and any right to pontificate?
George Floyd’s killing is bringing about reckonings the likes of which we have never seen before. This is good news, and this despite the pain of this moment, of the accumulation of grievances and of the highest crimes against humanity (because that is precisely what this is about) which America has accepted for far too long. And America is not the only guilty party: the entire world is rocked by this event. Europe too is feeling its consequences, even if its part in the American system is more distant.
It is time to consider the systemic structural, economic and psychological impacts that remain from centuries of world domination, of colonialism, and of a modern-day economic system which is designed to benefit from these unjust foundations. And this concerns everyone, of every race, of every social and financial standing, for we cannot build a safe, strong, healthy society without coming to terms with our histories. This is not about erasing any facts of the past, but about telling ALL the stories of history, of understanding the significance of decisions, of assuming responsibility where we as a people bear responsibility. We must do this in order to find greater understanding, empathy, and learn to appreciate what justice truly is. We have been taught official history in school. Let us question what we have learned, and put it to the test of truth and of humanity without fear.
Yes, black lives do matter! And it is time to reconsider how we all participate, willingly or unwillingly, in a racist and unequal system which we were all born into and which is wholly unacceptable.
In my world of classical music, there is indeed much essential work to be done to recognize the extraordinary contributions of musicians of color over the last centuries (not to mention women) and to be drastically more inclusive today. The idea that there is not enough talent out there is false and is a nonstarter. In my work directing the International Beethoven Project and its many events and festivals, I have been able to see and hear first-hand many world-class musicians of color. And while I have always been happy to find and hire musicians and artists of color, I know that we in this industry need to make a more concerted effort to do so and to promote inclusive environments. The future of classical music itself depends on it, and it is time to make sure that music reflects in every way the universalism it claims to express.
I plan to continue addressing this topic in the coming months and years as we learn about what we can do better. We must be part of the solution rather than be included in unfair mechanisms we have accepted for the entirety of our lives. I especially commend all of those people who have been on the frontlines of peaceful protests around the country and the world in the face of extreme resistance and much too much police brutality.
I also wish to mention that, while extremely difficult, painful even for all people, no matter what place they come from in life and in their hearts, this Great Reckoning is necessary, and will take us to look deep within ourselves and in our societies. We will have to address all forms of systemic oppression, from the place of Black Lives but also of indigenous lives, immigrant lives, and women’s lives, as we have sidelined them for far too long as well.
When looking into systemic forms of oppression and unjust applications of ‘law and order’ (with all of its underlying racist connotations), the time is ripe to sow the seeds of an entirely new society that will be just, humanist, ecological, and kind. We can fashion an economic and a legal system to function within the bounds of our ideals of peace and equal justice and opportunity for all. This will take work, much patience, much empathy, and no small amount of humility.
The goal is to build a just and harmonious world.
As a musician, I will play my part.
Whatever your skill or talent, you are also called to play your part.
Let us begin rebuilding our world, for this generation and future generations. Let us work all together so that there are no more George Floyds, for as long as people of color are choked, I don’t see how any of us can breathe easy.
Thank you for reading.
George