THE KNEEL CONSORTIUM
THE KNEEL CONSORTIUM
How did the project start?
I was in talks with Harrison Collins for about a year and a half to do a commission for us at Traughber JHS. In May 2020, we settled on an idea and a folk tune to use for source material. On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered. On May 27, Jason Dyba posted a poem on Facebook that he had written in response to Mr. Floyd's death. I reached out to Jason, a former student, and asked if we could use his poem as a seed for a project. On May 28, I asked Harrison if we could change the original project into something much bigger and more critical to the field of music and education. He agreed, and the consortium was born on May 29, 2020.
Why are we using a white composer?
We were in the middle of developing another project with Harrison when we shifted our focus. We wanted to give Harrison a chance to address this subject with his music. The Black Community knows its history, outrage, and ongoing pain. We will not be speaking FOR or AT that group with this composition. The White Community needs to acknowledge, learn, and act. We are not trying to retell the story of racism with the piece, but rather, learn, listen, acknowledge, and work toward understanding and healing.
What other artists are involved?
We are including the poetry by Jason Dyba, a multi-media piece by Anissa King, Dr. Ollie Watts Davis will provide historical and performance information about the key source material, the visual artist Edo will provide the design to be the visual representation of the project.
How is the fee being used?
All fees will be paid to the contributing composers, writers, and artists. Any remaining funds will be donated to The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation. Neither the project managers nor their band program will receive any contributed fees.
A Message from composer Harrison Collins
If you’re connected to me and/or to Josh Johnson and Rachel Maxwell, you’ve probably heard about the Kneel Consortium, a project we’ve put together to address the alarming and enraging social injustices of our current time. Rachel and Josh are more suited to answer manyof the questions you might have about the project, but I’d like to address one question in more detail: why am I, a white composer, writing this piece about social injustices?
First, I acknowledge the position of privilege from which I am approaching this project. I am white, cisgender, and heterosexual. I have blonde hair and blue eyes. I am the type of person that is protected most by the unfair and unjust system in which we live, and I am aware that this protection comes at the cost of discrimination and bias toward so many other human beings who are and should be considered equal. I am not colorblind - it is people of color that our system puts down, and it is Black Americans who have lived in a different America where there is all-too-rarely any sense of fairness or care from the systems that claim to protect them. My experience is not that of the Black American, and it obviously never will be. I will never truly understand what it is like to experience what they have experienced.
However, I’ve learned that, as a white American, one of the best things I can do is acknowledge that there IS a difference - something that too many white Americans don’t or won’t do. When you can acknowledge that there is a difference, you have taken the first step to understand the terrible injustices that the Black community has faced for hundreds of years and that continues to this day. I have seen videos. I have read stories. I have learned about the experiences of so many Black Americans, ranging from complete strangers to my own sister, Nikki. I have been shaken to my core and I have cried for the injustices that this community has faced, and I have only seen a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of what has happened. As a privileged white American, knowing and understanding this disparity makes me deeply uncomfortable; this is how all white Americans should feel.
I still have a long way to go as an ally and a lot to learn. I follow the words of those who have served as mentors to me over the years, like Omar Thomas, who taught me to use my privilege to make space for those who haven’t been given space. This was something I grappled with when the Kneel Consortium first began. Do I have a right to speak on this? What can/should I say? What can’t/shouldn’t I say? Don’t I have a responsibility to use my privilege to speak out in support of the oppressed? Through the help of Omar, my great friend Kevin Day, and my teacher/mentor Roy Magnuson, I came to understand that I have a stake in this and that I can and should speak out. Not to or for Black Americans - they already know what’s happening because they LIVE what’s happening, and they do not need me to speak in that way. But, I can and should speak to other white Americans - those who have not yet begun the process that I have begun of acknowledging the differences in privilege and experience that exist in our society, and those who don’t understand that to feel uncomfortable may not be pleasant but it is right and it is justified, and those who don’t yet understand that to be silent is to be complicit.
This is the goal I have for the work I will be composing for the Kneel Consortium. I aim to use my platform and my privilege to send the message that to be silent is to be complicit in the oppression that takes place every day, and that as a person of privilege, it is our responsibility to use our privilege to support those who lack it. Then, with the help of my associates, we will provide for students information about what they can do when they’ve made this understanding. This is still something we’re working on, and something that I still am personally working on. I am far from a perfect ally, but my hope is to instill the same seeds of change and growth that I have received so that more young white Americans will begin the process of ally-ship.
If you’d like to talk about this with me in more detail, or help teach/inform me about things I can consider in addition to this, etc. please feel free to DM me. If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading, and if you’re not yet a member of the Kneel Consortium, I hope you’ll consider joining us.
-Harrison