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I Made Everyone in My High School Clique Mad — Because of a Paper
How the racist ideology of classical music was projected on me in high school.
My high school encapsulated the macho football-friendly white and rich image.
This image accelerated when I joined concert band in sixth grade. My introverted and nerdy persona ached for a personal connection with the alto saxophone. I guess you can say I found my clique.
As my appreciation of classical music increased immensely throughout my six year band process, my disdain of the rhetoric used from classical music to justify racism converted to hatred.
The Paper I wrote was Unapolegtically Black Power.
For my senior year, I had to write a five page paper on a specific topic I could choose and present it to the class. My excitement ran up an down my spine.
The paper comprised of multiple topics that stem from white supremacy like cultural appropriation, internalized anti-blackness, etc..
I wrote my paper, revised it a few times after peer review, and I was ready to present. Out of excitement, I gave some of my band “friends” a copy of the paper they could skim over.
I can’t say I wasn’t surprised by the reaction. They hated the paper and even…
