Kirk Whalum

man? That’s what I worry about. In this climate, people are being stopped and frisked and thrown down on the ground. It’s frightening. We have the conversations at home with our children. Remember, racism is taught, and we need to talk to the younger generations about the stuff we don’t ever want them to go through. And if that means if we have to protest or pull down a statue, great. Statues are to intimidate and put fear in human beings. The statues of the Confederacy represent fear and slavery.”

Butler, who has been very vocal about racism in America, is dismayed that more music artists are not joining the conversation. “I will say I’m very discouraged by other artists in this industry, who have had great success with Black music and Black musicians. There are artists who have not stepped up to speak.

“If they could have just come out and speak up, it would matter. It hurts me a lot. Deeply. Let me be honest. When I woke up the day George Floyd was killed, I thought about my children, my daughters, my grandchildren. I’m proud that they were in downtown L.A. protesting. It blessed my heart because that’s what we did in South Africa. That’s what we need to see. So, yes, I’m upset that my colleagues and friends have been quiet. This is about action and not just saying you care. No, not good enough. There must be action.”

He is adamant in his belief that the kind of collective effort that made history in South Africa is also possible here, but only if white people decide to be part of the solution. “White people need to be engaged and find out what Black Lives Matter really means. Find out what Color of Change means. Ask the questions and be open to listening, and be open to agree that this systemic and white privilege is real. Ask what can I do and what can I be a part of?

“Align yourself with what is going on right now. Don’t look at it like they are taking away your freedom. For all my white friends, I’m here to sit and talk to you. And I’m here to have the conversation we are having now, so it reaches the world. I sing onstage, and you hear me declaring this onstage, telling my story and sharing my heart, so there’s always the opportunity to have a conversation. Remember, confess your faults through another, and you will be healed. To say you are not at fault, you become part of the problem, and, ultimately, you want to be on the right side of history.”

For more information on Butler, visit www.jonathanbutler.com.

Photo: Anna Webber

Kirk Whalum

By Ken Capobianco

SAXOPHONIST KIRK WHALUM has a

long history of delivering joy and uplift to his audiences throughout his decades-long solo career and his collaborative work with BWB—a trio he’s part of with Rick Braun and Norman Brown—plus many other artists. He brings just as much passion to a discussion about the Black Lives Matter movement and racism in America as he does to his spirited gospel, jazz and funk music.

He believes we are witnessing a true paradigm shift in the country, and is optimistic that the long-delayed American reckoning is about to arrive. “We’re seeing the words Black Lives Matter being uttered by the most unlikeliest of people. White people are finally wrapping their heads around the fact that Black lives are more

continued from page 13 vulnerable than ever, and we have to reckon with this thing we’ve been putting off for so long,” he said via phone from his home in Memphis.

Whalum added that there are concrete initial steps the country can take to make positive reforms. “A Truth and Reconciliation Committee that happened in South Africa is what we need. If we get there, we can begin real change. But there’s a lot of resistance right now to the idea that this is real and there’s a real existential threat to Black people. It’s not theoretical. I have two Black sons who are grown, and

three Black grandsons, and all of them and me are in a vulnerable position every single day. That hasn’t changed in many years. So, the question is to everyone, ‘Are you willing to acknowledge that, and are you willing to help us change this?’”

However, the Grammy winner also acknowledged that with reform will come the kind of blowback we’ve seen in recent years. “Now we can put on the board that we’ve had a Black leader of the known world with President Obama. We know as we roll our sleeves up that we do it within a context where the people who have fueled and protected blatantly racist systems did so without fear of retribution.

“This election will be important, and not just on a presidential level, because if Mitch McConnell can stay in office—someone who said, ‘Oh, a Black president nominated a Supreme Court justice. Well, no, I don’t want to do that.’ Think of that. He wasn’t president, but he had the power to say, ‘It’s something I won’t do.’ That type of white privilege and white supremacist leaning activities are a lot harder to get away with now just because of the last month. That’s a pretty significant thing.”

For Whalum, the goals of the Black Lives Matter movement and reform are in sight. “To me, the endgame is clear, and it was clarified by the man [Nelson Mandela] who sat in prison for 27 years to think it through. Truth and reconciliation. We’ve got to do it. You can cajole your kids to take the medicine, but they actually have to say, ‘Yes, I’ll take the medicine,’ for things to change.”

The Tennessee native who continues to surprise with his eclectic songbook and inspire with his spiritual messages said that white people who want to help their Black brothers and sisters need to educate themselves and check their privilege. “People need to get busy and do their homework. Your opinion is literally meaningless.

“I’m talking about Joe Blow living in white America. As much as I love him, we don’t need his opinion about what he doesn’t know. I live in this microcosm of the area of music, and it makes the contrast about white and Black America more evident. I can be surrounded by people—Black, white and otherwise—who would really dig spending time with me. They’d say they’re honored, ‘Oh man, I hung out with Kirk Whalum,’ but then I can get in a taxi or my car, and you know the rest, man. The stories are the same.

“People think, ‘Oh, you are a celebrity, oh, not you,’ and I can tell them ‘yeah, me.’ And that really brings things into focus. Look at the Central Park [The Ramble] situation. There was a Black man, with a doctorate, bird-watching, but to the lady, he was a threatening Black dude she could weaponize the whole New York City Police Department against. You get prejudged and have to hold your breath.”

He pointed out a prime example of white privilege masked in good intentions within the jazz world. “I was approached by a really well-known artist in smooth jazz to do something, and I really respected it, so I said, ‘Absolutely, I’m with you,’ but the

“I have two Black sons who are grown, and three Black grandsons, and all of them and me are in a vulnerable position every single day.”

artist is white. He or she—to keep it fair—would have been leading the charge under the auspices of that artist, and I was on top of this with my manager, who is white. We said, ‘No, that person can’t lead this to open the discussion and mediate because that’s almost entirely about white privilege.

“The person who approached me used a certain language like, ‘If we can have this conversation with your credible voice and help, ‘but then they said, and I want to get this exact for you …” He paused and searched for the email. “Here it is. They said, ‘In a ‘thoughtful, kind, and inclusive manner.’

“And I was thinking that’s antithetical to the sweeping change that is needed. The change needed is not going to be thoughtful and kind. It’s going to be very cutting and uncomfortable. I jokingly responded, ‘Thoughtful and kind? I’m mad as hell.’ We have to work together, but we have to be honest about what’s happening.”

Whalum grew animated when discussing the power structures in smooth jazz that are almost exclusively white. “In the smooth jazz area—and I’m not really a card-carrying smooth jazz artist—what I have seen is all of management is white, the people who make the decisions are white, and the bands that play the sessions are white. I can go on.”

He hesitated and chuckled to himself. “People say, ‘You can be anything you want to be in this country, but you just have to be good enough.’ Well, now stop, please. You are wrong. You have to be white enough in a lot of cases. I always make a joke, and he will get a kick out of this, but I say, ‘If Dave Koz had written this song, it would be a hit.’ Not all of my songs, but I can pick five songs easy that if they were by Boney James, they’d be hits.”

Whalum added that he hoped more artists in the jazz community

would speak out, especially in the deeply passionate way of keyboardist-composer Bob James, who posted a moving tribute to Black Lives Matter on his social media pages. “I will say Bob James is a guy I owe my career to—he discovered me, got my first record deal, and I’ve traveled the world with Bob so much. I thought his diatribe—beautiful, soul-searching, transparent—he posted is exactly what is going to have to happen. He set the tone for what comes next. If people haven’t seen it, they need to look it up. I responded with so much love and appreciation to him.”

Ultimately, Whalum, an ordained minister, believes that if real change is going to occur, it’s going to take everyone’s involvement. “The young people in the Black Lives Matter movement have suggestions for solutions, but the real solutions are going to have to come from white people because they have done the homework and gone to school to understand our reality.

“And, as God would have it—you know the first will be last and last shall be first—the teacher is going to be the guy who takes out the trash, the sanitation worker or that Black single mom who has suffered because white evangelicals say no abortions; you can’t have them.

“And, that mother may have been victimized in a relationship for whatever reason, and she’s there with three kids but no one to help. Her resources have been weeded out due to meritocracy. They judge her after telling her no abortion. It’s really complicated, man. Remember, when America gets a cold, Black people get the flu. It’s that simple. And it has to change.” For more information on Whalum, visit www.kirkwhalum.com.

“We’re seeing the words Black Lives Matter being uttered by the most unlikeliest of people. White people are finally wrapping their heads around the fact that Black lives are more vulnerable than ever, and we have to reckon with this thing we’ve been putting off for so long.”