Alison Crockett | Alison Crockett

I’m Not Racist, but…

admin — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 21:35:31 +0000

Whenever I hear these words I get ready for the elephant sized shoe to drop. Not because I think that person is horrible but because of the “but”. There is nothing that can come after, “I’m not racist..but” that isn’t racist, at least in some way.

The FLOTUS advocates drinking one extra glass of water per day. The first thing you hear is, ”I’m not racist but…”
“She doesn’t need to tell me what to do! Why is the first lady in our business?!”
“I already drink water but her words make me just want to drink a soda instead…”

A new Miss America of east Indian descent was crowned. You hear,”I’m not racist, but…”
“Shouldn’t Miss Kansas whose a marine, has tattoos and hunts have won instead?”
“This isn’t Miss India, this is Miss America!”
“Miss Kansas would have represented OUR values…”
“A terrorist for Miss America?! That muslim isn’t even American!”

See, the long heavy sigh inducing I’m not racist...butphrase is suspect because the person is coming from a place of discomfort about something that is obviously racially motivated, and they want to hide from or justify that fact to themselves. Now that American institutions are starting to look like a part of urban and suburban America, a certain subset of the population who did not think of themselves as outwardly racist are showing their own personal feelings of discomfort at the new status quo. I’ve felt this discomfort as a black woman dealing with new cultures in America and overseas. But, see…that’s MY problem, not theirs. Other races aren’t usurping my job or space in society; they are just living like I am and competing for the same things I want. I just have to adapt, which is what I did and am doing.

A powerful black woman can advocate healthy living and a woman of Indian ancestry can symbolize beauty, poise and elocution. We should be rejoicing that the country is now starting to look like what the founding fathers overarching original intent was for this American experiment. A place all could come regardless of class, economic background, religion or culture. A place where if you worked hard, you could become a Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet or, better yet…Oprah.

I encourage those who use the words, “I’m not racist but…” to look into their hearts and see why they need to put those qualifying words in front of their statements. It’s not racist to admit your discomfort with race. That’s called being a normal human being. It is racist to ignore those feelings and blame the person you are speaking about for some imaginary problem that you made up to cover your discomfort. An Indian-American woman winning Miss America over a blond marine is uncomfortable for some, but that has nothing to do with the participants or the contest. A Black First Lady talking about health issues is something that all first ladies do; Laura Bush touted literacy and and Nancy Reagan said, say no to drugs. It’s time to own up to and move through our own personal discomforts so that we can move past these non-issues and just get onto arguing about stuff like normal people….

Car Vocal Warm Up

admin — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 17:05:02 +0000

Quick warm up in my car before a gig. Everything isn't always perfect when you warm up but this is the short version of what I do.

The new civil right: The right to fail…

admin — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 16:33:36 +0000

My family went to the 50th anniversary of the march on Washington this weekend. It was a lovely experience as we walked and listened and saw all the different types of people that lived in this country sitting and standing next to us with their kids, in wheel chairs and in tee shirts with various slogans on them. An older white woman gave me the thumbs up as I took my three year old to the bathroom in the grass next to the tidal pool. Another older Asian woman shared her crackers with the kids, while a Persian and white couple allowed my children to watch movies on their phone. And of course, there were many black people who I saw from my church, my job, from mothers groups…it was great.

But the next day, I really understood what the original march and entire civil rights movement did when I watched Fareed Zakaria on Sunday. He had the youngest billionaire inventor of Spanx on his show. He then Proceeded to be astonished by this woman who had no business background(as he said ad infinitum) and created this empire with a entrance cost of $5000. That wasn’t the civil rights part, it’s coming soon.She said that what allowed her to deal with all the initial rejection was that her father raised her to embrace failure, and to find one thing a week to fail. This allowed her to try different things with out the stigma of having to be good all the time, so she didn’t attach negativity to failure.Here’s the civil rights part. I thought this was an excellent idea and said to my daughter, the same thing. “Let’s try to just fail at some things and enjoy the process!” We’ll see if I can keep it up, but I hope it allows her to take risks without pressure. We all know that we learn tons from our failures. Far more than our successes .

The civil rights part? I can now tell my daughter to go out and fail a little. That was not an option as I was growing up. Nor was it an option for my mother, my grandparents, their parents…. You had to be great; better by a high percentage point than your white counterparts in order for you to have just theopportunity to succeed. You had to be a representation of the greatness if your race… all the time. Failure was to be kept hush hush because that just might imply that you were not qualified; the larger implication draped around you that your entire race was not really qualified for … well, anything that utitlized brain power.

This was not a my family thing. Every black family I know has this mantra imprinted on their skulls. But now, after all the struggles, though we have a ways to go, my child does not have to be a standard bearer for her entire race when she walks out of our house. I can encourage her to try and fail, not because as my dad said, “the school of hard knocks is a tough school, but you’ll learn something…” but because she, like everybody else can use the basic lesson of just try it out and see; maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t. But think of what she’ll see and experience. Hopefully she’ll gain the fortitude to persevere in the face of rejection just like the Spanx founder, and have the optimism to know that failures can lead to success when you learn from them.

My daughters will finally have the right to fail.

Why I hate the Police

admin — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:31:45 +0000

Why do young black and hispanic kids hate the police? Because of what is in this video. About two or three weeks ago, there was practically martial law in Brooklyn. I wasn’t paying attention because I was in the DMV(DC, Maryland, Virginia area) taking care of my life. This wasn’t in the news so I didn’t pay attention…But one of my students who had just been to Brooklyn was telling me about the shooting(which is sadly common at this point) of a young black man by police, and how kids in the neighborhood where just frightened of the police. She told me about the constant harassment, the intimidation, the fear. Now, having lived in Brooklyn for many years, I didn’t disbelieve her because I saw it, but I’ve been a van driving mom/musician/educator/hustla, so I am not confronted by it. And since it didn’t happen to me personally, I thought she was slightly exaggerating.This is why we as humanity needs to reconnect with those outside our experience because we loose empathy if we do not experience and see what it happening around us. How do we expect young people to have respect for authority and create a models of success when they are treated as criminals because of their color, age and attire? We manifest what we create. If we manifest hostility, expect hostility. If we manifest disrespect, expect disrespect. I am a believer in dressing and acting appropriately for your age. I believe in hard work and respecting elders and authority. But there are hostile forces in our neighborhoods that are supposed to be protecting us. What do we expect…Which type of human do we want to help produce? Who get’s to decide who is human and how do we treat them…#H-U-M-A-N

Enough is Enough!

admin — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:20:43 +0000

Anyone who knows me knows that I like music. Not only because I’m a musician, but I just like it, like a kid likes cake. I love the act of making it and singing it. I teach it, I perform it, and proselytize about the wonders of it. I think that all forms have great merit regardless of what people think about the style that is supposedly destroying little minds.

But…. there is a limit. I was working with some 4th graders recently and I have been encouraging them to bring in lyrics and music from their experience for the class to listen to and analyze. I gave them parameters of no profanity or overtly sexual lyrics. One young man, who is Hispanic, originally thought my group would be boring(his exact question to me on the first day was: Is this class going to be boring? Are you boring? Seriously, that’s what he said) only to find out that singing is great fun and music is a blast. He wanted badly to bring in a song that he could have the class listen to. However, he has nothing to bring in. He said he listens exclusively to hip hop. There is no music he knows for him to bring in from home. His words, not mine.

Now everybody knows there are plenty of rappers who have music that can be played in a classroom. I arranged a choral version of a couple of hip hop songs that were popular back in the day: the Sugar Hill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight, Goodtimes (the song Rapper’s delight is based off of) and Erick Sermon’s Just Like Music, which featured music from Marvin Gaye. Kids love hip hop…shoot erry’body luvs hip hop. But when a child can’t bring any music to school from home to share…that’s a problem. That his parents allow him to listen to music that is inappropriate for his age is the real problem.

Where is my frustration coming from? Here, a statement from Michigan radio station, WUVS-LP:

The questions have been asked, Is Hip Hop Music Destroying America, Is Hip Hop A Threat To Our Children or Should Rappers Be Accountable For Their Lyrics? You be the judge. Earlier this year the song “Karate Chop” leaked online featuring rapper Lil Wayne. He raps, “Bout to put rims on my skateboard wheels/Beat that (expletive/woman genital) up like Emmett Till.” A few weeks later a song by rapper Rocko featuring Rick Ross was released called “You Don’t Even Know It.” Rick Ross raps, ‘Put molly all in her champagne, she ain’t even know it/ I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain’t even know it.’ Yes, we have our freedom of speech right, but when is freedom of speech taken too far?”

“Many would say both rappers have taken their lyrical content too far and offended too many. The family and estate of Emmett Till have released a statement of disapproval over Lil Wayne’s disregard and disrespectful lyrics. Though his record label issued a statement of apology, the rapper has yet to do so. In the case of Rick Ross, a petition has been started over his blatant disregard for women and the issue of date rape. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that over 300,000 women are raped or sexually assaulted per year in the United States alone. That is a disturbing number and should not be taken lightly. His lyrics not only condone the behavior, but he boasts about it in the song. While some feel it’s only entertainment, many feel it sends and encourages the wrong message. Several individuals and organizations have taken a stand and so are we. Effective immediately Muskegon’s WUVS-LP 103.7 the Beat has pulled ALL Lil Wayne and Rick Ross music from rotation. We pride ourselves on playing music that is non-degrading and non-violent. While we believe in freedom of speech, creative writing and individualism, we refuse to be part of the problem by spreading messages that could harm or end someone’s life.”

At some point parents and people of good conscience need to say, enough. The problem is not just in hip hop, and people have a right to listen to whatever they choose. But it’s parent’s job to make sure that their child is surrounded by things that encourage positive growth. Let me make clear again, there is plenty of hip hop that is perfectly fine for children to listen to. PLENTY! The child I’m talking about is 10. What an adult listens to privately is their own business. But it is not ok to expose children to rape, misogyny, gun violence, excessive cursing, etc., with no context of what they are hearing other than, “I like it and my brothers and I listen to this all the time….” That’s what parents are for….