Albert, I'm not a lawyer, but here goes.The term as I was using it, and as is commonly used, involves one undeniable fact: many if not most of the black musicians who made major advances in this music influenced white musicians who took these and made a great deal of money on these. The original musicians were not given credit.
I recall Bix talking about people "stealing his stuff" when he was down and out. A more modern example involves Lester Young and his disciple, Stan Getz. Lester once complained that while he had invented a certain style of saxophone playing, "Stan Getz the money."
Stealing here is a metaphor for the general socially unjust situation for musicians who couldn't make as much money on the same ideas that other musicians taking these could. The taking and using for gain is not the issue, but rather that the originators couldn't gain.
For stealing in a less metaphorical sense, a Chicago newspaper ran an series of articles on Jelly Roll Morton and how his publishing company did steal from him.
Nick, yes, I am the same person, and that statement was from my callow youth all of six years or so ago. I was really angry, as many of us here were. I still stand by that statement today. I dislike racism directed at anyone. I also hate political correctness, which I think of as a way of being condescending. But I realize the remarks I made probably put me in a different light for people than I intended, or people would read me differently than I intended.
Since that time, I've thought more about the Burns series, and also thought about the motivation of people like Wynton Marsalis. Whereas there is much that I still don't like, the racial injustice the series documents is undeniably true, and it is part of the history of the music. And, I think, Bix has become the Great White Hope for some people.