Originally published June 2020
George Floyd
Breonna Taylor
Ahmaud Arbery
Nina Pop
Tony McDade
Decolonizing the Music Room believes it is necessary to acknowledge the historical roots and evolution of racism, anti blackness, and white supremacy. As music educators we are not only responsible for teaching musical skills, we are responsible for helping facilitate the growth of thoughtful, critical, responsible humans. The trauma stamped upon the Black community, and the fear and anxiety among Black people caused by racism’s accompanying violence - that which is ingrained in our society - is intimately connected to the classroom. The failure to acknowledge this by not naming it specifically, while perpetuating the shiny, yet fragmental ideals of “multiculturalism” and “colorblindness” contributes to the false notion that racial progress is present where it is not. Decolonizing the Music Room emphatically asserts that Black Lives Matter, when they have not been treated as if they do. We recognize that working toward equity is not only a matter of life and death, but also a matter of microaggressions, erasure, minimization, marginalization, and perpetuation of the social construct of whiteness as the standard. We commit to continuing our work, and encourage our community to hold one another and our organizations accountable to name blackness, speak about Black lives, and follow their words with actions.