James Taylor Sings a Song for Pride Month and Beyond: The Power of Music to Teach Tolerance
This is the beginning of Pride month. Today, I couldn’t help but think of this song, “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught”. (See my earlier article below about its origin).
Teaching Hate: The Threat to Equality
Right now, in parts of our beloved United States, there are attempts to carefully teach our children that it’s okay to reject people who are “different”. This “teaching” extends beyond race and ethnic identity. It encircles the LGBTQ community, non-traditional families, and the “queer” community (even though members of the community now embrace that term, others still utter it with derision and hostility). Everyone who is not a traditional patriotic American (i.e. Caucasian) is rounded up and corralled in a fence of rejection, suspicion, and hate.
The Power of Music
I like this version of “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” by James Taylor. This arrangement sounds like a lullaby or a love ballad. There is dissonance between the sweetness of his voice combined with the acoustic instrumentals and the bold conviction of the lyrics. The deceptive sweetness underscores the insidious seduction of racism and homophobia as well as all the other isms and phobias. The words still reign and resonate with the unfortunate truth that hate can be taught.
Promoting Tolerance and Respect: A Call to Action
So dear readers, let us use this month and all the months to follow to carefully teach our children tolerance and respect for those who are different from us. Let us celebrate who we are while also embracing the beauty of diversity.
And don’t forget that LOVE IS LOVE.
🏳️🌈❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🏳️🌈