So The Star apologized. Now un-write the wrongs to Black KC’s ignored jazz legacy

OK, so we are to believe that The Kansas City Star has suddenly discovered its dark secret — published in plain sight — of its racist coverage of Black Kansas City for more than a century? As Dana Carvey’s Church Lady character on “Saturday Night Live” once said, “Well, isn’t that special?”

While The Star’s apology may have some faint residual benefit, a historic self-vindication of sorts, this meaningless mea culpa is both a day late and a dollar short as far as most Black Kansas Citians are concerned. Please forgive me, as someone who has worked at the American Jazz Museum for more than 20 years, if I reply with a side-eyed “thanks, but no thanks.”

So, in the interest of time and space, here are some simple recommendations:

First, un-write the wrongs. What I mean by that is: Tell the truth. Go back and tell the true tales that The Star willfully ignored for decades — the beautiful, ornate history of Kansas City jazz, one of the most profound artistic movements in American history. In fact, that would be a great name for a series on forgotten Black musicians in Kansas City: “The Ignored.”

The Star could tell the amazing stories of the world-famous artists it ignored right here at home, out of ignorance or malice — who knows? But the paper ignored them nonetheless. I’m talking about incredible musicians who died in obscurity here at home because, to the paper of record, they were invisible. Stars such as Luqman Hamza, Pearl Thuston-Brown, Ahmad Alaadeen, Horace Washington, Eddie Saunders, Dr. Nathan Davis, Milt Abel and Bettye Miller, Kevin Mahogany and scores and hundreds of others gone unmentioned and ignored by The Star.

Hell, just this year, Kansas City virtually ignored the centennial of the birth of Kansas City’s greatest musician, Charlie Parker. Imagine if we had the foresight to have created a worldwide celebration of someone who could be fairly called the Mozart of America.

As musicians, we’ve always known that the dominant press conveniently overlooks us, despite the richness of our culture and contribution to the fabric of America. I remember the late, great jazz musician Jay McShann commenting on the state of race relations in the Kansas City music scene. Of course, it was segregated then, as was everything in Kansas City, and as it still appears to be on several levels. The white union was Local 34 and the Black union was Local 627, housed at the Mutual Musicians Foundation. McShann told me the running joke was, “The white union had all the money and the Black union had all the fame.”

So, yes there’s a lot of work to be done by The Star to go back and un-write the wrongs it wrought by omission. That would be a good first step among many. In fact, there are musicians performing in Kansas City right now in obscurity, ignored by white media for the most part — luminaries such as Bobby Watson, Queen Bey, Dennis Winslett, Logan Richardson, Lonnie and Ronnie McFadden, Ida McBeth, Lisa Henry and the Count Basie Orchestra’s Will Matthews, to name just a few.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shoutout those journalists who went against the grain and did tell the true stories of Kansas City jazz — Star writers such as Joe Klopus and Steve Kraske, and Steve Penn, who was not supported by The Star for pushing for more serious coverage of the Black cultural arts scene in Kansas City. I can even recall the backlash against Lee Hill Kavanaugh, trombonist and Star writer, who was shut down when she tried to reveal so many uncovered stories. And let me also shout out proudly the work of the Black press in Kansas City, The Call, for documenting the full story of our city’s Black culture.

So yes, I’m willing to accept The Star’s apology. But to undo the tremendous damage it has so graciously admitted to — finally — The Star has a great deal of work to do, to prove its sincerity and do what any good journalistic organization should do: Tell the truth. We’re waiting, and we’ll be watching.

This story was originally published December 27, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "So The Star apologized. Now un-write the wrongs to Black KC’s ignored jazz legacy."