Sonny Nach allem, was ich weiß, hat Miles Davis nur sehr selten (und anderen Jazzmusikern, z. B. Bird, ging es da wesentlich schlimmer) wirklich schlimme Erlebnisse mit Weißen gehabt (die Geschichte mit der Arrestierung beim Taxistand ausgenommen).
naja, aber er hatte zweifellos gute freunde und vorbilder die ganz erheblich schlimme erlebnisse „mit weißen“ hatten, charlie parker hast du schon genannt, ich würde noch bud powell erwähnen; ob powell jetzt wirklich abgerutscht ist nachdem weiße pianisten ihn verprügelt haben ist sicherlich eine frage über die man einen eigenen thread beginnen könnte; tatsache ist, dass das eine oft erzählte geschichte ist, die davis weltbild durchaus beeinflusst haben könnte…
hier eine [entschuldigt die länge] passage aus seiner autobiografie (die ich als quelle für seine überzeugungen schon ok finde, weiß nicht ob das jeder so sieht…); ich finde da eigentlich keinen rassismus drin; also, da ist nichts von „die weißen könnten gar nicht anders sein, sie sind schließlich weiß“, mir scheint das alles über die sozialen Umstände (und über einzelne) argumentiert zu sein;
„Another thing I think about with East St. Louis is that it was there, back in 1917, that those crazy, sick white people killed all those black people in a race riot. See, St. Louis and East St. Louis were — and still are—big packing-house towns, towns where they slaughter cows and pigs for grocery stores and supermarkets, restaurants and everything else. They ship the cows and pigs up from Texas or from wherever else it is that they come from and then they kill them and pack them up in St. Louis and East St. Louis. That’s what the East St. Louis race riot in 1917 was supposed to be about: black workers replacing white workers in the packing houses. So, the white work*ers got mad and went on a rampage killing all them black people. That same year black men were fighting in World War I to help the United States save the world for democracy. They sent us to war to fight and die for them over there; killed us like nothing over here. And it’s still like that today. Now, ain’t that a bitch. Anyway, maybe some of remembering that is in my personality and comes out in the way I look at most white people. Not all, because there are some great white people. But the way they killed all them black people back then—just shot them down like they were out shooting pigs or stray dogs. Shot them in their houses, shot babies and women. Burned down houses with people in them and hung some black men from lampposts. Anyway, black people there who survived used to talk about it. When I was coming up in East St. Louis, black people I knew never forgot what sick white people had done to them back in 1917.“
ach hier noch
„Around this time, people—white people—started saying that I was always „angry,“ that I was „racist,“ or some silly shit like that. Now, I’ve been racist toward nobody, but that don’t mean I’m going to take shit from a person just because he’s white. I didn’t grin or shuffle and didn’t walk around with my finger up my ass begging for no handout and thinking I was inferior to whites. I was living in America, too, and I was going to try to get everything that was com*ing to me.“
und das hier:
„White people in America get all up in your face because they think they’re God’s gift to the whole fucking world. It’s sickening and piti*ful the way they think, how backwards, stupid, and disrespectful many of them are. They think they can come right up to you and get right into your business because they’re white and you’re not. When I’m on airplanes they do that a lot; get right up in your face. I ride first class, so I know they wonder what I’m doing there if they don’t recognize me. So they look at me strangely. One time when I was sitting on a plane and some white woman did this to me, I asked her if I was sitting on something that belonged to her. She just smiled this tight smile and left me alone. But you got some white people who are cool and don’t do that kind of shit. You got hip people in all races and stupid ones, too. Some of the most stupid motherfuckers I have ever met have been black people. Especially the ones who believe all them lies white people spread about them. They can be some sick motherfuckers when you find them like that.
America is such a racist place, so racist it’s pitiful. It’s just like South Africa only more sanitized today; it’s not as out in front in its racism. Other than that, it’s the same thing. But I always have had a built-in thing for racism. I can smell it. I can feel it behind me, anywhere it is. And the way I am, a lot of whites really get mad with me, especially white men. They get even madder when I tell them off when they get out of line. They just think they can do any kind of shit to a black person here.“
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