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The text of this page was collaboratively written by the YTS Organizing Committee after YTS 2019. At the all-camp meeting, one attendee said that songs with racist content should be prefaced by some historical context, and that people who were uncomfortable with a song could leave the room. The Committee did not immediately clearly and strongly state our disagreement with that approach; we do not believe that the onus is on people offended to leave the room if someone wants to sing a song with racist content, and we encourage our attendees to avoid singing songs that could be hurtful or offensive to others. In order to share about our work to address racism at YTS, the Committee produced the following document.
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YTS is committed to facing and challenging racism in the trad song community. Racism is not an abstract problem at YTS: it weakens our community and harms our singers by making them feel unsafe or unwelcome.
Racism is a widespread problem in our society at large, and the trad song community is no exception. There's a lot of hard, important work to be done in learning about the racist history surrounding much of the music we sing, examining how racism manifests in our communities today, and figuring out how we can carry forward our living traditions without perpetuating racism and other harmful historical baggage.
YTS strives to be a space where attendees (and organizers) can do some of that work, and if we want to be a diverse community we must first strive to be an anti-racist community.
Here are things organizers are already doing:
YTS is a reflection of our attendees and our communities. Here are things that attendees (especially white attendees) can do to create and promote positive change — at YTS and in your home singing communities:
Be Thoughtful
Be mindful of and accountable for your own song and lyric choices.
Listen Carefully
Talking about race and racism may feel difficult or uncomfortable, but it’s an important part of creating a strong, vibrant, welcoming community.
Speak Up
It’s important to address racist songs and comments when you hear them — even if you think there may not be anyone in the room who would be personally hurt or offended. This is particularly important if you’re not a member of the marginalized group affected by the content (people of color shouldn’t have to always take the lead on challenging racism, men can call out misogyny too...).
Make Connections
Most new attendees find out about YTS from a friend!
We look forward to continuing this work, and we welcome conversations and suggestions on further ways that YTS can support our communities in these endeavors. You can get in touch with the organizing committee by emailing [email protected].
Racism is a widespread problem in our society at large, and the trad song community is no exception. There's a lot of hard, important work to be done in learning about the racist history surrounding much of the music we sing, examining how racism manifests in our communities today, and figuring out how we can carry forward our living traditions without perpetuating racism and other harmful historical baggage.
YTS strives to be a space where attendees (and organizers) can do some of that work, and if we want to be a diverse community we must first strive to be an anti-racist community.
Here are things organizers are already doing:
- Talking to attendees about a hurtful or racist song they sang or comment they made, when it’s brought to our attention
- Facilitating conversations about race in our community, such as 2019’s Race in the Trad Song Community workshop
- Actively seeking out people of color when hiring staff for YTS
- Being mindful of and accountable for our own song and lyric choices at YTS and in other song spaces
YTS is a reflection of our attendees and our communities. Here are things that attendees (especially white attendees) can do to create and promote positive change — at YTS and in your home singing communities:
Be Thoughtful
Be mindful of and accountable for your own song and lyric choices.
- Avoid singing songs that could be hurtful or offensive to others — including songs that refer to humans by their race with terms like brown, yellow, or red; songs glorifying genocide or colonization; songs that parody a marginalized group; songs that use racial slurs, and songs that normalize or romanticize rape.
- Where possible, consider modifying songs to remove hurtful or offensive elements (like omitting a racist or sexist verse of an otherwise appropriate song, or replacing a slur with a different term).
- Consider the context in which you're singing. A song that is appropriate for one venue might be inappropriate for another. Are you at a social singing where people are making music for entertainment and community, or in a scholarly setting? A big session where there's not room to provide context, or a gathering of a few friends where you have time to discuss a song?
Listen Carefully
Talking about race and racism may feel difficult or uncomfortable, but it’s an important part of creating a strong, vibrant, welcoming community.
- Acknowledge that intent and impact are different. If a particular song choice made someone feel alienated or hurt, the singer’s good intentions don’t erase the harm that it caused.
- Take feedback as a gift. If someone tells you that a particular song choice was hurtful or upsetting to them, they are giving you an opportunity to apologize and to learn how you can avoid causing harm in the future.
Speak Up
It’s important to address racist songs and comments when you hear them — even if you think there may not be anyone in the room who would be personally hurt or offended. This is particularly important if you’re not a member of the marginalized group affected by the content (people of color shouldn’t have to always take the lead on challenging racism, men can call out misogyny too...).
- Talk to other singers who sing songs that could be hurtful or offensive to others — approach them as allies and appeal to your shared values.
- Address individuals who make racist jokes or comments — strategies for this can include interrupting, not laughing, asking why a joke that relies on stereotypes is funny, or taking someone aside privately and explaining what is offensive about what they said.
- For more examples of how to speak up, we recommended these resources.
Make Connections
Most new attendees find out about YTS from a friend!
- Invite people of color who would enjoy YTS to the event, and to singing events in your home communities
- Suggest singers of color as potential YTS staff members (or nominate yourself if you're a person of color)
- Suggest people of color as potential YTS organizing committee members (or nominate yourself if you're a person of color)
We look forward to continuing this work, and we welcome conversations and suggestions on further ways that YTS can support our communities in these endeavors. You can get in touch with the organizing committee by emailing [email protected].