Whistling Vivaldi and the Art of Disarming Prejudice

"I first began to know the unwieldy inheritance that I'd come into--the ability to alter public space in ugly ways." - Brent Staples 

The quote above is a statement made by Brent Staples in his piece "Just Walk on By" in which he encounters the deep realization that his race has an overwhelming effect on public space--a realization that shouldn't be true, but is an unfortunate reality of the society we live in. In this piece he explores the idea of him being a victim in a world where men like him are painted as a threat, creating a dynamic irony that intrigued me to write about him in my blog. 

One thing that I found especially intriguing was the fact that Staples felt the need to sing "sunny selections from Vivaldi's four seasons" in which he labeled this action as a precaution to seem less threatening. Music usually serves as an escape, but it was a shield for Brent Staples. Perhaps in the realm of literature, nothing rivals the haunting irony of a young black intellectual whistling classical Italian concertos to ease the racist misconceptions of white strangers who crossed his path.  

It got me thinking, why did he choose Vivaldi? Of course, I'm aware of the fact that this paints the image of a typical pretentious streetgoer, but I was curious to why this piece painted such an image. So, I did some research. As it turns out, the Baroque period of classical music (the era in which Vivaldi composed music) was a time when music followed a strict adherence to form and rigid structure. It often employed reoccurring themes and logical progressions to enhance its cohesion and symmetry. Quite ironically, Staples employs this method of order and logic into an urban chaos: the streets of downtown Chicago. In a world of crime and tension, Staples breaks this tension of racism by using a tool that is unexpected and "typical" of a non-threatening person.  

Reading this piece has made me realize that people handle prejudice in many different ways. A less ironic approach than Staples', for example, would be the people in this time period taking a liking onto Jazz music: a form of art that rejected norms rather than adhering to them (take a look at The Great Gatsby), invented by those who were outcasted and didn't seem to fit in with society's typical selections of music and culture. No matter what method you take against prejudice, however, these actions embody an aching truth about black life: the endless, draining obligation of polishing your own soul in order to survive the gaze of others.