Mick Hartley

From the Times:

When Martin Speake, a jazz teacher at one of the country’s leading conservatoires, saw an email from his school asking for staff and student feedback regarding their equality and diversity policy, he was happy to respond.

Speake, 66, an internationally renowned saxophonist, who has been playing jazz for 50 years and teaching at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London for 24 years, said he did not agree that black musicians were discriminated against in the UK’s jazz scene. In fact, he thought they were getting preferential treatment in some circumstances and believed that “critical race theory is divisive and dangerous”.

When he pressed send on his 1,170-word email, which covered a wide range of strongly-held opinions on discrimination and diversity policies, he did not think it would lead to the collapse of his professional life.

Well, you know how this goes…

After students got hold of the contents of the email and posted it online, they staged a five-week boycott of his classes which eventually led to him resigning, as well as losing his playing and recording career. The school released a statement saying they did not agree with Speake’s views and expressed “how in awe we are of [the students’] sense of community and solidarity with each other”.

That's the one that really stands out. Students are students, this is what they do: take big moral stands, boycott, protest. But for the authorities to appease them in this way – not just appease, but encourage…"how in awe we are". It's such moral cowardice.

Colleagues, fellow musicians, record companies and music venues all cut ties with Speake, which has left him “cancelled” from the UK’s jazz scene.

This isn't inflammatory stuff. He's not saying he wouldn't play with black musicians. [If he said he wouldn't play with Jewish musicians he'd probably be applauded.] He just disagrees with the view that black musicians are discriminated against, and thinks it may in fact work the other way. I wouldn't know, but he's the one living this, and it's at least plausible. But it's not the prescribed, required view…