Voices ResourcesA website for the worldwide community around the journal Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy

He was a young man. But he kind of looked like Trayvon Martin, the 17-year old who was shot in Florida by a white man, George Zimmerman, a few months ago, the justification being the “Stand Your Ground” law in Florida. There is a Stand Your Ground law in 24 states in the United States. This gun friendly law gives anyone the right to shoot first and ask questions later if they feel threatened.

President Obama said in an impromptu speech, probably the best personal/presidential speech he has given in all of his days as president, “Trayvon could have been me.”

Race issues in America remain largely unresolved. And I think lots of people in the States were afraid that when the shooter, Mr. Zimmerman, was found not guilty, we would have more riots like we had in the 1980s when Rodney King was brutally attacked by police in Los Angeles for similar “Stand Your Ground” misguided actions. But the combination of Obama’s speech and the grace and dignity of Trayvon Martin’s parents seemed to cool hot heads -- at least for now.

When I saw a young Black man standing in front of Paseo Nuevo Mall on State Street in Santa Barbara the day after Obama’s speech, I couldn’t help but reflect.

The only name I have for my young acquaintance is “Kayotic Da Hu$tla”, which is the name on the music CD he gave me, as he attempted to raise money for “Granting Resources Among Students (G.R.A.D.S.), an organization that creates space for street kids to do arts and music in Hawthorne, California. Kayotic and I stuck up a conversation. He told me that he had completed his B.A. in Business Administration and had started his M.A. in Non-profit management, so that he could help to lead this arts-focused organization to encourage kids to learn music and perform.

I said, “Gee, that’s great. I’m a musician and a Music Therapist.”

Kayotic responded by saying, “Music saved my life.”

The titles and lyrics in Kayotic’s music CD are things like “stay in school,” “get rid of the guns”, “have respect.”

We chatted for about 7 minutes. And in those seven minutes, Kayotic thanked me profusely for just stopping to talk with him. “No one here stops to even talk with me, “ he said.

“Well, “ I said, “they should. There’s lots of money in this town. And if you are trying to raise money for your organization, folks should be able to step up to help.”

In my heart of hearts, I had the sad awareness that most people would not stop to talk to Kayotic because he was Black; because he was wearing the purple and gold jersey and hat for the LA Lakers – not very white; because he walked and talked in a different way than most of the weekend shoppers at the Paseo Nuevo Mall, because he had a style that didn’t fit “the place.”

This was a beautiful, clean cut, intelligent, and interesting musician/social advocate for street kids. I liked him a lot.

I gave Kayotic $10.00 for the Arts Organization. And I thoroughly enjoyed our brief conversation about music and other things. But I felt embarrassed that he thanked me so many times for just stopping to talk with him.

As I walked on down the street, I couldn’t help but recall some of Obama’s words in his speech:

There are very few African-American men who haven’t had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me, at least before I was a senator. There are very few African-Americans who haven’t had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often.

And for those who resist the idea that we should think about something like these ‘stand your ground’ laws, I just ask people to consider if Trayvon Martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk? And do we actually think that he would have been justified in shooting Mr. Zimmerman, who had followed him in a car, because he felt threatened?

I just want music to save more lives. My motherly instincts had me feeling very protective of Kayotic. He probably heard someone say that there are lots of rich people in Santa Barbara and that this would be a good place to raise some money for G.R.A.D.S. I mourn for those people who didn’t stop to talk with Kayotic, to hear his inspiring story, to compare musical genres, to feel that they were contributing to something so life-saving as music and art. I wish Kayotic and all of the other children and young adults well down in Hawthorne, California at the G.R.A.D.S. center. Maybe I’ll go down and visit them there some day and jam. That would be a very good day, indeed.

Reference

Retrieved on July 21, 2013, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/president-obamas-remarks-on-trayv...

How to cite this page

Kenny, Carolyn (2013). “Music Saved My Life” “Music Saved My Life”. Voices Resources. Retrieved January 15, 2015, from http://testvoices.uib.no/community/?q=fortnightly-columns/2013-music-saved-my-life