After the release of his series on Palestinian liberation, Cannonball received a lot of encouragement and generally positive responses, and a lot of feedback from his fellow artists and cultural workers that led him to realise he also needed to clarify his stance on the issue of racism as a whole, with regard to how it affects the cultural scene – drawing from what he’d learned while growing up in New York City and seeing both what did and didn’t work in terms of how people have worked to confront that city’s racism problems that were, and still are, quite serious – in addition to what he’s learned as an international touring artist and bearing witness to the dynamics of racism in the US, Canada, Latin America, East Asia, and nearly every corner of Europe – he put together this series of “Thinkstagram” pieces on racism.

So this is obviously not intended as an expert or authoritative perspective by any means – and the point here isn’t to condemn well-meaning people, to “call people out”, or to promote a specific ideology or political platform – rather, the point is to show the music scene some tough love in a critical time, and essentially to hold a mirror up to a lot of you and say “this is the face you’re showing the world – you’re showing cowardice, apathy, and dishonesty, in precisely the time when the world is demanding serious moral courage, empathy, and truth.”

Additionally, Cannonball points out that this series isn’t directed at anyone in particular, and it could easily be said that it’s directed at everyone, perhaps most of all himself – no one is “without sin” on these issues, and no one is doing enough – and rather than grandstanding and positioning oneself as having all the answers to every problem, here we’re really being asked to embrace humility and uncertainty, which is why Cannonball never claims to be an authority on any of these issues, nor does he present any one-size-fits-all or full and total solutions – many of his points here are surprisingly basic, common sense understandings of the way things are at present, and the only reason he felt the need to write this out at all is because so many in our industry have become swept up in some sort of ultranationalist fever dream where they’ve ignored, disregarded, and forgotten these truths – for such people, this kind of writing may indeed serve the purpose of helping them make their way back to Earth.

And the fundamental statement he’s making here is: if you don’t take a firm and unapologetic stance against racism now, you’re already endangering racialised people on your scene and attracting racists to your gigs by not speaking up, and you’re endangering yourself and your friends in your somewhat queer-friendly, vaguely left-leaning and ostensibly feminist alternative music scene that is also totally vulnerable to persecution under the kind of fascist movement you’re currently enabling the ascension of – we’re all in this together, so we’re all better off when we find it in ourselves to stand together.

For much more comprehensive anti-racist perspectives by people who are actually authorities on these topics, you can read anti-racist works by writers such as Ibram X. Kendi, Angela Davis, Edward Said, Robin DiAngelo, Klee Benally, Maya Angelou, Frantz Fanon, Saira Rao, yk hong, and any number of others.

One thing Cannonball has frequently mentioned to me, in fact, is that people are often confused regarding the difference between the work of actual experts and activists on the issue, and his perspective as a White musician who is simply sick and tired of how marginalised folks are unsafe at gigs because people in positions of power and privilege aren’t speaking up and setting a firm boundary that racism will not be tolerated on the scene.

Cannonball is not an expert in anti-racism – he has a completely different job, which is to make music!

And part of the job of being a musician – or any variety of cultural worker – is developing an understanding of the communities you’re serving – this is why comedians, for example, are held to a higher standard on social issues, and may even be criticised quite harshly for including what might seem like obscure “microaggressions” in their jokes, which we wouldn’t criticise most people for saying in private conversations – when it’s your job to perform on stage, what you say and do takes place in a very different context.

So yes, Cannonball and I both have spent a fair bit of time learning about any number of social issues as part of our work – but that’s simply so that we can better serve you, the audience for Cannonball’s music. This does not imply that we’re experts on these issues!

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Now – I should mention here that the rising tide of racism on the scene is a safety concern for Cannonball himself, given that the current trend of anti-Muslim hate in Europe is alarmingly similar to the belief system that led to the systemic murder of many of his Jewish ancestors during the Holocaust.

In fact, popular conspiracy theories such as the “Great Replacement” and “Islamo-Leftism” theories draw heavily from Nazi beliefs about Jews that were popular during The Third Reich – these ostensibly new conspiracy theories ultimately bear the same old tale of a “secret cabal” of Jewish “international intellectuals” conspiring to flood Europe with immigrants of colour and “foreign” ideas such as anti-capitalism and anti-racism.

Cannonball is, in fact, a Jewish artist from another continent, who is against racism and capitalism, and supports his Palestinian cousins in their struggle for freedom, and the liberation of all racialised people – these racist conspiracy theories are, quite literally, about him.

Movements against the rising tide of fascism are, thankfully, quite popular among the youth, both within Europe and throughout much of the world – nevertheless, they have a long way to go in terms of creating the necessary change – which means they need us geriatrics to stand in firm solidarity with them, now more than ever.

And this is equally the case with other issues, such as the MeToo movement and how women are still unsafe on the music scene – far too many people are silent – and when artists like Cannonball do the bare minimum and say a few words in solidarity, they’re often misinterpreted as “experts” or “activists” on the issue, simply because they’re some of the only voices speaking up in certain circles – really, everyone should be doing at least the bare minimum! Not just the “experts”.

So if these posts resonate with you, and you’d like to share them on your socials to set this kind of standard around what you will and won’t accept in your circles, you’re free to do so – here they are if you’d like to download them: Cannonball Statman Posts on Racism

See you soon!
Kléo

Table of Contents

1. Our Cousins in West Asia
2. Recommendations for Media Outlets that interview White People
3. Recommendations for White People who aren’t speaking up
4. Reality Check
5. Recommendations for White People who become defensive or feel ashamed when confronted with reality
6. Whiteness is a powerful fiction
7. The Real You

Our Cousins in West Asia

Recommendations for Media Outlets that interview White People

Recommendations for White People who aren’t speaking up

Reality Check

Recommendations for White People who become defensive or feel ashamed when confronted with reality

Whiteness is a powerful fiction

The Real You