Yes, There is Racism in Classical Music

It's 2021, and if there's anything that white people in the US should have learned in the last couple of years, it's that racism is pervasive and systemic across American society. It doesn't matter that any individual doesn't consider themselves racist or that any particular person doesn't behave in racist ways. That's what "systemic" means.

Here are some articles about this that have run in the Times recently, about what Asian and Asian-American musicians face in their lives and careers. It's especially dismaying that the only person of color on a DEI committee at San Francisco Symphony resigned from the committee. That tells you a lot about how effective and useful he thought the committee was.

• Asian Composers Reflect on Careers in Western Classical Music
  
• Asians Are Represented in Classical Music. But Are They Seen?
  
• A Violinist on How to Empower Asian Musicians
  

More:

• For These Classical Musicians, It’s Always Been About Racial Equity
  
• Opera Can No Longer Ignore Its Race Problem
  
• Classical Opera Has a Racism Problem (Not the same as the previous article, despite name similarities.)
  
• Opera Foundation Removes Trustee Over Offensive Comments
  
• Spreading the Word on Black Classical Music (This article is more than 30 years old.)