Dear Bill Wyman,
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If you’re going to make part of your living from being a typical white “cultural tourist,” you should make an effort to be more accurate in your depictions of the flora and fauna of “black kids’” lives [Hitsville, February 11]. (By the way, Black men sporting full beards aren’t “kids” even though racist America advances this myth. “Thirteen” was the name of the group that shared their talent with the crowd that evening. It wasn’t a description of their ages or the ages of most of the other people in attendance.)
Maybe your readership can only handle inaccurate, unidimensional descriptions of “black kids.” Discussions of one of the most important musical phenomena of the 20th century, such as the one that occurred that evening, deserve better. To rob Blacks and Latins of the complexities of their lives, commentary, and artistic genius is not just a product of the genre (journalism) that you work in, it is a continual, tiresome product of white privilege. I guess one brother said it best when he suggested (after emphasizing the value of interracial collaborations) sometimes Black people just have to do it by and for ourselves. You proved (to me and the other twentysomething and thirtysomething Black “kids” there) that goes for music criticism too.
