Latest news with #ThePresident'sOwn
CBS News
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Equity Arc teens join Civic Orchestra members to kick off Chicago Youth and Music Festival
A group of teens played in harmony despite the president's DEI executive order. They played alongside Civic Orchestra members to kick off the Chicago Youth and Music Festival, where a packed crowd praised them before they even performed. Music is a universal language. It's not defined by the color of your skin, which is what Equity Arc wants listeners to take away from Sunday's performance. Jacob Cornejo, 18, has been playing the flute since he was in the fifth grade. "I feel, through the flute, I'm able to express what I'm feeling, and I can share my music and the music that's written on the paper with the audience," he said. Cornejo is one of 60 students in the Equity Arc program, a nonprofit organization that provides mentoring and support for young musicians of color. Inside the symphony center, they performed next to Civic Orchestra members, giving a free concert. "We're very excited to have some of the most talented students from across the country, many of them that are representing Chicago, with us, that really represents the extraordinary talent that we have for those that are seeking a professional career in classical music," Equity Arc Executive Director Stanford Thompson said. The teens were supposed to perform "The President's Own," a concert with the United States Marine Band in May, but that opportunity was taken away. An executive order signed by President Trump banned programs for diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the federal government and military. In March, 60 Minutes brought the teens to Washington, D.C. , to ask about the canceled concert. They answered in song. "The color of your skin doesn't matter, you know. You're White, you're Black, you're Brown; you should be able to share the music or do what you love," Cornejo said. This performance kicks off the Chicago Youth and Music Festival. Chicago Symphony Orchestra has a Connect program, in which it works with CPS schools and community youth orchestras to rehearse with Civic Orchestra members. Equity Arc helps student musicians connect with mentors from across the country and provides professional development opportunities, including internships and mock auditions.
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion - The war on diversity is also a war on veterans
Last weekend, millions of Americans learned that the United States Marine Band, known as 'The President's Own' had to cancel a concert with a bunch of high schoolers. The reason? Because President Trump's anti-DEI executive actions barred the Marines from performing with, mentoring, and teaching kids of different backgrounds who were musicians. Of course, the event was salvaged by American veterans who flew in from across the country to play the concert with the kids. It is a sad story with a redeemable end but heralds a new norm in the U.S. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continue to hold that diversity and the military don't go hand in hand. Many Americans would think that the military is a monolith, and that may have been the case in the past. But in a post 9/11 world, the U.S. military has grown and will continue to grow more diverse in the next 25 years. Whites make up 74 percent of the veteran population, but that number will be dropping to 63 percent. Women continue to pour into the service, not just because of more open doors but because others won't go through those doors themselves. The number of Hispanic and Black veterans are increasing as well. The racial makeup of military service has less to do with 'woke' recruiting and more to do with recruiters finding out that the diversification of the American population has meant a diversification of military recruits. It goes without saying that the relationship between race and patriotism are not and have ever been correlated. Trump and Hegseth seem to think they are and that has resulted in both embarrassing blunders and real-world ramifications. We can all scoff that the Defense Department scrubbed a mention of the Enola Gay. We can roll our eyes after the Air Force reinstated a course on the famed Tuskegee Airmen after removing it for being 'woke.' Some of you will claim that the aforementioned concert really isn't a big deal. But it is. The military knows that in order to keep up recruitment, it has to recruit everyone they can. And they have to rely on sharing stories of brave Americans who had to not only overcome the challenges of serving in the military but also the obstacles that society and the military enforced to impede them. Trump and the MAGA world have some strange notion that teaching about discrimination, sexism and racism will somehow get people to hate America. The American veteran class proves that this simply isn't the case. When Black Americans learn about the Harlem Hellfighters or Tuskegee Airmen that gives them pride to serve knowing a path was paved for them. When female service members learn about the women who broke barriers in aviation, naval commands and combat roles, it pushes them to break more barriers. I can go on and on, but there is one example that perfectly illustrates how a DEI education won't make you hate the United States. The Pentagon decided to remove mentions of Jackie Robinson, the great Brooklyn Dodger and civil rights icon. Why? Because it qualified as DEI. Let's break that down. Most Americans will agree that the U.S. fought on the right side of history during World War II. Robinson was not able to go to Europe during World War II to fight on the right side of history. While the USA was fighting on the right side of history during the war, Robinson was being court martialed. Why? For refusing to sit at the back of a military bus. These are two truths of American history. I would venture that most of you would still think the United States did the right thing fighting fascism while also wishing Robinson didn't have to deal with the racism he experienced in the military and later in Major League Baseball. Congrats, you just became 'woke.' This however, is what the Trump administration would have you believe is the cause of concern. Somehow, a rapidly diversifying fighting force is less capable because it reflects a changing American population? That teaching about veterans who overcame incredible circumstances will make future recruits too ashamed to put on a uniform? A lot of my Marine buddies will say that the only color that matters is green. It's not the person, it's the uniform. They are correct. But Americans now and in the future need to know that a lot of brave men and women had to endure so much and overcome impossible odds to just be considered a uniform. Jos Joseph is a master's candidate at the Harvard Extension School at Harvard University. He is a Marine veteran who served in Iraq and lives in Anaheim, Calif. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
23-03-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
The war on diversity is also a war on veterans
Last weekend, millions of Americans learned that the United States Marine Band, known as 'The President's Own' had to cancel a concert with a bunch of high schoolers. The reason? Because President Trump's anti-DEI executive actions barred the Marines from performing with, mentoring, and teaching kids of different backgrounds who were musicians. Of course, the event was salvaged by American veterans who flew in from across the country to play the concert with the kids. It is a sad story with a redeemable end but heralds a new norm in the U.S. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continue to hold that diversity and the military don't go hand in hand. Many Americans would think that the military is a monolith, and that may have been the case in the past. But in a post 9/11 world, the U.S. military has grown and will continue to grow more diverse in the next 25 years. Whites make up 74 percent of the veteran population, but that number will be dropping to 63 percent. Women continue to pour into the service, not just because of more open doors but because others won't go through those doors themselves. The number of Hispanic and Black veterans are increasing as well. The racial makeup of military service has less to do with 'woke' recruiting and more to do with recruiters finding out that the diversification of the American population has meant a diversification of military recruits. It goes without saying that the relationship between race and patriotism are not and have ever been correlated. Trump and Hegseth seem to think they are and that has resulted in both embarrassing blunders and real-world ramifications. We can all scoff that the Defense Department scrubbed a mention of the Enola Gay. We can roll our eyes after the Air Force reinstated a course on the famed Tuskegee Airmen after removing it for being 'woke.' Some of you will claim that the aforementioned concert really isn't a big deal. But it is. The military knows that in order to keep up recruitment, it has to recruit everyone they can. And they have to rely on sharing stories of brave Americans who had to not only overcome the challenges of serving in the military but also the obstacles that society and the military enforced to impede them. Trump and the MAGA world have some strange notion that teaching about discrimination, sexism and racism will somehow get people to hate America. The American veteran class proves that this simply isn't the case. When Black Americans learn about the Harlem Hellfighters or Tuskegee Airmen that gives them pride to serve knowing a path was paved for them. When female service members learn about the women who broke barriers in aviation, naval commands and combat roles, it pushes them to break more barriers. I can go on and on, but there is one example that perfectly illustrates how a DEI education won't make you hate the United States. The Pentagon decided to remove mentions of Jackie Robinson, the great Brooklyn Dodger and civil rights icon. Why? Because it qualified as DEI. Let's break that down. Most Americans will agree that the U.S. fought on the right side of history during World War II. Robinson was not able to go to Europe during World War II to fight on the right side of history. While the USA was fighting on the right side of history during the war, Robinson was being court martialed. Why? For refusing to sit at the back of a military bus. These are two truths of American history. I would venture that most of you would still think the United States did the right thing fighting fascism while also wishing Robinson didn't have to deal with the racism he experienced in the military and later in Major League Baseball. Congrats, you just became 'woke.' This however, is what the Trump administration would have you believe is the cause of concern. Somehow, a rapidly diversifying fighting force is less capable because it reflects a changing American population? That teaching about veterans who overcame incredible circumstances will make future recruits too ashamed to put on a uniform? A lot of my Marine buddies will say that the only color that matters is green. It's not the person, it's the uniform. They are correct. But Americans now and in the future need to know that a lot of brave men and women had to endure so much and overcome impossible odds to just be considered a uniform.
CBS News
16-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
What musicians did after an executive order on DEI led to the cancellation of U.S. Marine Band collaboration
The United States Marine Band was founded in 1798. Thomas Jefferson gave it its nickname, "The President's Own." Today, 135 Marines still perform the score of the White House from parties to inaugurations. So, there was excitement, last year, when the Marines judged a contest for teenage musicians. The winners would perform with the band. Thirty students were chosen. The concert was scheduled. But, last month, it was cancelled. President Trump had issued his executive order against diversity programs, and the young musicians were Black, Hispanic, Indian and Asian. Because they were silenced, many wanted to hear them including veterans of military bands who gathered in an improvised orchestra of equity that you might call America's own. This past Sunday, at the music center at Strathmore, near Washington, 22 students who had lost their chance to play tuned up with the military band veterans for the concert that was not meant to be heard. This music had been planned for the cancelled concert. "Nobles of the Mystic Shrine" by John Philip Sousa. Sousa directed the Marine Band a century and a half ago and composed "Stars and Stripes Forever," the great classic in the songbook of patriots. Rishab Jain: We're a land that prides itself on being the land of the free, the home of the brave. And I believe that just as much as anyone else does. But for that, we need these different perspectives. We need to see how others think. 18-year-old Rishab Jain was among the students barred from playing with the Marines. He was born in America to Indian parents—a high school senior accepted at Harvard. Rishab Jain: If we're a society that's suppressing art, we're a society that is afraid of what it might reveal about itself. If we're suppressing music, we're suppressing emotions, we're suppressing expression, we're suppressing vulnerability, we're suppressing the very essence of what makes us human. We are devaluing our own humanity. We are degrading our own humanity. Scott Pelley: You don't seem to believe in limitations. Rishab Jain: Absolutely not. There were no limitations but talent, last year, when Rishab Jain and about 60 others, nationwide, posted auditions for the Marines to judge. Zakyya McClenny uploaded her clarinet from Pennsylvania. Scott Pelley: Did you think you were gonna be chosen? Zakyya McClenny: Yes! Scott Pelley: You have a lot of confidence. Zakyya McClenny: I do. Scott Pelley: Why did you think you were gonna be chosen? Zakyya McClenny: I live my life with a lot of confidence. She was right. Zakyya was chosen. She and all the contestants had been organized by a Chicago-based nonprofit called Equity Arc, which connects student musicians of color with mentors and opportunities. and here's why — American orchestras today are 80% White, 11% Asian, 5% Hispanic and 2% bBack. No wonder that in 2022, Equity Arc's executive director got an unexpected call. Scott Pelley: The Marines called you? Stanford Thompson: Yes. They called Stanford Thompson to ask how the band could reach out to musicians of color. It's part of the band's mission to educate youth. Stanford Thompson: So in that phone call with the Marine Band I shared with them a lot of ideas, a lot that we have learned as an organization. And when I got off the phone, it was just-- it was crazy. It was, like, "Wait. Let me call this guy back, because I should be offering a way or some ideas that Equity Arc and the Marine Band could work together." We identified this high school age, this pre-college age where a lot of musicians of color drop off. We came up with the idea of, "Can we bring a select group that we would audition through a competitive process to Washington to be able to spend a couple of days with the band?" The 'couple of days' were supposed to look like this. Top music students, like Zakaya McClenny, learning from the best. Their wind symphony was set for this May 4th. Until President Trump's executive order banning programs for diversity. President Trump: We've ended the tyranny of so-called Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies all across the entire federal government and indeed the private sector and our military. And our country will be woke no longer! The president says he is building a "color blind, merit based" society --a reaction to what many saw as progressive politics gone too far. His order was comprehensive, calling diversity programs "illegal and immoral discrimination" and an "immense public waste." But that executive order is just the beginning. All across the government, President Trump is rolling back 60 years of discrimination protections for women, older Americans, the disabled and people of color. Trump rescinded President Johnson's 1965 ban on employment bias. He closed the Social Security Office of Civil Rights and fired leaders of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, which investigates bias in the workplace. Cari Dominguez: I think we're at a pivotal moment in our society. And we have to make a decision as to which way do we want to go. Cari Dominguez chaired the EEOC for George W. Bush. Her family fled Cuba when she was 12. Scott Pelley: The argument behind the executive order is that America has eliminated racism, that no one in this country is held back by race any longer. Cari Dominguez: The data would not support that. The data, Dominguez told us, shows that the EEOC handles around 100,000 discrimination claims from Americans each year. Scott Pelley: The executive order calls the kinds of programs that you used to enforce quote, "immoral." Cari Dominguez: I believe what is immoral is to deny people opportunities. I have witnessed individuals who have beautiful resumes. And they get an interview. They come in, you know, using a wheelchair, and all of a sudden the opportunity is gone. Denying people opportunities because of that lack of fairness is immor-- that's the immoral part. Fairness aside, in this email the Marine Band's commanding officer wrote Equity Arc's Stan Thompson, "as long as the executive order is in place, we will not be able to reschedule." "I am really sorry to be the bearer of this news." Stanford Thompson: My first thought was helplessness in a way and heartbreak. Scott Pelley: Did you have the sense that the concert was canceled because of the color of your skin? Rishab Jain: Absolutely. I mean, I couldn't think of another reason really. I had prepared. I had done everything I could to be at the top. And being Indian, I thought, yeah, what other reason would there be? Playing in harmony, despite the president's DEI executive order Any questions were answered this past week. The students gathered in Washington for rehearsals and the performance. 60 Minutes did what we often do, covered costs of plane tickets and travel to bring all of our interviewees to one place. Equity Arc decided to book the rehearsal space and the concert hall and try to replace the absent marine band—which turned out to be easy. John Abbracciamento: I just felt like, well, there's usually two responses to something. You can complain about it, or you could do something about it. I chose the latter within seconds. And it was the easiest decision ever. Easy for, John Abbracciamento and Jennifer Marotta, retired Marine Band trumpeters. Scott Pelley: Marines follow orders. They don't have to like them. What do you think the members of the band think of all of this? John Abbracciamento: I know them like the back of my hand. So, I don't think it's too much for me to go out on a limb to say how disappointed they were. With the active-duty Marines ordered to stand down, Equity Arc reached out to retirees who answered the call from everywhere, former band members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Westpoint, the Naval Academy and the Marines. Jennifer Marotta flew, on her dime, from LA. Jennifer Marotta: When I got that email, I looked at my schedule and I said, "I can move all of those things." I booked a flight. It was literally one week ago, and I'm here. John Abbracciamento: I challenge anyone, literally, anyone to come to me and say by having this concert does damage to the United States. It doesn't. It brings out the best of us. Scott Pelley: You were not meant to be here today. This ensemble was not meant to be heard. And I wonder what this moment on this stage means to your heart. Sean Mouzon: My name is Sean Mouzon, I'm here from Atlanta, Georgia. I'm a junior at Southwest DeKalb High School. One thing that units us all, is this, music. I'm here because I love it. No other reason than all these amazing, talented people. And I don't want this to be taken away from anybody because of someone else's personal opinion or just anything else besides why we like to do this. Vanessa Cabrera: My name is Vanessa Cabrera, I'm from Rockaway, New Jersey. We work hard to be here. We belong here. We have the talent to be here, and this is not just for us but for children and just people in the same situation that we are, that nobody can tell you what to do, if you put your mind to something that you can accomplish that. Ricardo Lazaro: My name is Ricardo Lazaro. I'm from San Antonio, Texas. I just want the world to be a better place. But it seems like we're slowly straying away from that. And we gotta make a change. And I believe everyone here is capable of doing that. But are we gonna do it? Julie Angelis Boehler: My name is Julie Angelis Boehler. I retired after 23 years as the timpanist of the U.S. Army Band, Pershing's Own. We need all of this, not just musically. Athletically, academically, we need diversity, equity, and inclusion. Thank you very much. The original Marine Band concert would have been seen by hundreds. Here, tonight, these musicians are being heard by millions. At the podium, Rodney Dorsey of Florida State University conducting "Gallop" by Dimitri Shostakovich—in the hands of a band that looks like America. Produced by Nicole Young and Kristin Steve. Broadcast associate, Michelle Karim. Edited by Warren Lustig. Editor's note: Last month Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS News, announced it was modifying some of its own DEI policies. The company said the changes were intended to comply with the shift in federal guidelines under the new presidential administration.
CNN
02-03-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Trump Orders Impact a Native American Women's Basketball Team and a Concert With Students of Color - First Of All with Victor Blackwell - Podcast on CNN Audio
Trump Orders Impact a Native American Women's Basketball Team and a Concert With Students of Color First Of All with Victor Blackwell 40 mins Would former President Barack Obama or former Vice President Kamala Harris have been able to get away with treating the President of Ukraine the same way President Donald Trump did? Independent journalist in Ukraine Terrell Jermaine Starr makes the point in a conversation with Victor and former U.S. Army Major General Dana Pittard about the contentious oval office meeting. Plus, a Native American women's basketball team is caught up in the federal cuts ordered by President Trump. Victor speaks with the coach at Haskell Indian Nations University, Adam Strom, who is still leading his student-athletes as they compete for a championship despite going unpaid. Also being impacted by a Trump administration order is a concert featuring students of color and 'The President's Own' United States Marine Band. Victor speaks with two composers, Kevin Charoensri and Carlos Simon, who were going to have their pieces performed before it all got canceled. Later, Victor speaks with 'Exonerated 5' member Raymond Santana about his decision to seek political office in New York City. And the story behind a law school portrait that looks unlike any other. Victor speaks Saint Louis University School of Law's William Johnson and artist Cbabi Bayoc about why they came together to send a racial justice message that a lot of schools across the country are now backing away from.
