Day 341 - February 13th 2010
It’s been a while
For those few who have been following my blog over the past year I had some computer problems that led me to eventually stop writing for a while. Things are good and at Day 338 as a full time musician, my bills are paid my stomach is full and I couldn’t be more thankful, for now the dream is my relaity. Compounded by the fact that some of the stuff that I was up to I really didn’t want to discuss publicly yet. You’ll hear about them in the coming months though.
I felt like I needed to get something off my chest concerning one John Mayer.
It’s no secret that I’ve been a fan of his for quite some time , ever since I caught him opening for Glenn Phillips in 2001. I’ve bought his records listened to them backwards and forwards I’ve even covered a song or two of his (matter of fact I did it last night). From Room For Squares all the way to Battle Studies, I like his songwriting, I like the way he plays guitar, and sometimes he’s funny.
A couple of days ago I was pointed to pieces of an interview he did with Playboy on Perez Hilton’s website (a site that I’ve only been on one other time…my buddies Menya got a shout out) and I saw the more salacious parts of the interview. When you see the words Nigger, White Supremacist, and David Duke In the same paragraph it’s natural for someone of color such as myself to be offended…instantly. My blood was boiling and there was a sense of betrayal, I don’t know this person, but I’ve loved what he does enough to buy CDs, DVDs, concert tickets, T-Shirts etc. I’ve turned friends and family on to him, this is a person that I’ve supported for almost a decade and it would seem that he hates me basedon the color of my skin. That was my knee jerk reaction…it lasted for about 30 seconds.
Racist is a very powerful word, it’s a word I don’t like to use unless I’m absolutely sure it’s true. I know it exists (and it does still exist) but I’d rather assume people are smart enough to hate me for the myriad of reasons I may give them on a daily basis and not the color of my skin.
Keeping that in mind (and the fact that half his band is black), I decided to read the whole article (which I encourage you to do, instead of eating what the bloggers feed you) and try to get some context for the statements used. After reading the article, for me it went from, this guys a racist to…Bad choice of words man. I understood the points he was trying to make, but yeah you can’t say the word Nigger…ever if you‘re not black….sorry white folks (and everybody else for that matter) but that’s the way it is. Just one of those things…like you can’t hit a girl…ever if you‘re a guy. Frankly I don’t even think those were the strangest things he said in the interview.
A short while ago I spotted this on You tube
In my mind this matter is closed. He said some dumb, offensive, out there shit that he shouldn’t have, he got smacked down, he apologized, and it seems as if he may have even learned something from this experience, none of his band members felt like they needed to quit, done deal. We can’t expect people to forgive us if we can’t forgive others.
There are real people out there that can do actual harm to people of color because of racism and we should focus our fire in their direction.
