Dear swing community,
We are deeply affected by the events in the USA. The brutal murder of George Floyd is only the tip of an iceberg of oppression and violence. The country has long been divided by racism, and again and again we see shocking images of violence against Black people. Yet the Black Lives Matter uprisings have rarely received such widespread attention as now. With this statement we want to show our solidarity with the protests and, at the same time, take steps so that it does not end with a short-lived media outcry.
As swing dancers, we have to acknowledge that the music and dance styles we love arose in the context of deeply unjust social structures. Jazz is African-American culture, shaped by the traumatic experiences of slavery and segregation. We cannot do justice to the legacy of the Black artists who created this culture without confronting the uncomfortable history of the USA.
As swing dancers, we continuously work …
- … to educate ourselves about Black history and jazz history, and to give these subjects space in our classes.
- … to name our role models and teachers.
- … to listen to music critically and not to play songs with discriminatory lyrics or by problematic artists.
But that is not enough, because the structural discrimination of people of colour is neither a specifically American problem nor a historical phenomenon. In Germany, too, racism is deeply rooted in society.
We see it as our responsibility to question our cultural conditioning, to actively fight our own internalised racism and to act when we witness racist discrimination. We know that the path to anti-racism is a long process in which we will also make mistakes. We resolve to listen, to accept criticism, and to give space first to the voices of those affected before we speak up ourselves.
We warmly invite everyone who dances with us to join us on this anti-racist journey. As a starting point we have put together a reading list, which makes no claim to be complete. We are happy to take your suggestions. If you would like to borrow one of the books from us or talk about it, just let us know.
More about the roots of our dance: Lindy Hop – history and links