Day 15

Some of the few moments of solace I've found in this virus begotten year of the plague 2020 have been the Bang On A Can marathons.  For the uninitiated, Bang On A Can is a modern chamber collective that plays and promotes adventurous, non-conformist new music.  The BOAC All-Stars are a group of the regular performers, but their presentations and shows include many musicians from the classical, jazz, and rock communities beyond just the All-Stars.  

They're well known for their Marathons, 12-hour performances of the newest of new music, usually held in Brooklyn.  But because the world is sick with the covids right now and live performances seem to be a thing of the past, they've been instead offering zoom-style on-line Marathons, free six hour events on occasional Sundays.  There have been four on-line Marathons so far this year, and I've watched every hour of every one (24 hours in all now).  Each one has been at times challenging, fascinating, immersive and unique.

They've been my high points of 2020.

But here's the thing:  the performances are not overtly political, but one does get a sense that the unconventional free spirits are probably not Trump supporters, although for all I know, one or two of the musicians may harbor sympathies.  But yesterday, one performance by composer, violinist, and activist Daniel Bernard Roumain performed by BOAC All-Star cellist Arlen Hlusko was titled Why Did They Kill Sandra Bland? 

The live webcasts feature a Comments widget on the screen, where viewers compliment the performers, thank the organizers, and give each other shout-outs.  It's 99.9% friendly and supportive, a rarity among online comment sections.  But in 24 hours of Marathon performances, it wasn't until Why Did They Kill Sandra Bland? that the trolls came out of the woodwork and disrupted the harmonious proceedings.

To be sure, there appears to have been only one troll, who used that moment in the Marathon to rant about the election and urge everyone not to vote in the upcoming election.  "It won't make any difference," he wrote, "Don't accommodate the powers by participating in their farce," or something to that effect.

Naturally, several people, including Daniel Bernard Roumain, the composer of the piece being performed, and "Tim from BOAC" disagreed, and the Comments screen briefly resembled almost every other online political forum these days.

But why, I wonder, did the original commenter, the one who doesn't want us to vote, wait until Roumain's composition to speak out?  Could it have been that he thought Why Did They Kill Sandra Bland? would have a larger-than-average number of black viewers than the other performances, and he wanted to suppress the black vote?  Was he so triggered by the title that he just couldn't restrain himself?

It may have been a coincidence, that out of 24 hours on live performance it just so happened to be during that one that he decided he needed to be heard and discourage people from voting, but I sincerely doubt it.

Our divisive, so-called "president" in enabling and emboldening white supremacists, neo-nazis, and other groups to come out from the shadows and speak their hateful minds, and last night was only but one example of what that looks like.

In two weeks, we'll finally have an election and a chance to remove Trump from office once and for all, and also begin the slow, painful process of healing from all the mistrust and anger he's unleashed in this country.

Seize the moment.