I don't normally use this site for this kind of material, but this is the time to do it. When he was about four years old, my youngest son, Will, and I went down to the swimming pool for a swim in the complex where we were then living. In the hot tub was a younger black man. Now, as a musician, I had worked with a lot of black musicians over the course of my career, and many black jazz musicians were my musical idols. I had lived in New York for several years and had lived and worked with many black folks there in the course of my daily life. However, having grown up in Canada, black folks were a very small part of the population here. At this point, we were living in Vancouver, and black folks were fairly rare here at that time. Anyway, on with the main story.
Will had seen black folks on TV, but had never encountered one before. I was watching his face; his eyes were getting as big as saucers! I decided to stand back and let things play out. Will got into the hot tub, and there was a ledge around the inside of the hot tub where this fellow was sitting. Will began slowly walking around this ledge, being watched carefully by the black fellow. After three trips around this ledge, having avoided any contact with the fellow, Will put his hand on this fellow's arm, and ran his fingers down it, all the while being watched by this fellow and me. Finally, Will said to him, "Your skin is black", to which the fellow replied, "Yes, it is". At this point Will lost interest in the hot tub and said, "Hey, Dad, let's get into the pool"! I happily agreed.
Revell (the black fellow) and I subsequently became friends. He was an ex-Navy Seal from San Francisco who was working as a stock broker in Vancouver. This was the second example of how I realized that racism is learned. I won't bore you with the first, which I encountered when I was about thirteen and was visiting my aunt in Detroit. Children are not naturally racist; just watch them. So, the question is, where do people learn racism? How do we put a stop to it?
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Hello: I am hoping to locate the Bob Liley who played for the Mel-O-Denes and Capers re: a book I am writing about London musicians from the 50's and 60's. I won't take much of your time but I would like to make sure you're in the book. I have some memories from Phil Murphy, Gerry Risser's son Chet, Graham Lear, Johnny Stevens and others from the late 50's-early 60's era. The book is endorsed by the London Music Hall of Fame and I can be reached at jimchapman@rogers.com. I also have a page on Wikipedia for more info. Sincerely hope to hear from you as the book is about to go to press and I have a couple of questions I am hoping you might be able to answer. Thanks in advance, Jim Chapman
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