Notes from the Underground Vol. 4: We see You

Advocacy
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George Floyd, yet another unarmed Black American, was murdered by police sworn to serve and protect. How can this keep on happening? Because we allow it.

Western Arts Alliance acknowledges the grim reality of police violence against Black people and the suffering of People of Color, who’ve lived, worked, and died under oppression, indifference, and injustice. We support the rights of protestors everywhere, struggling to be seen, heard, and recognized.

The Western Arts Alliance Board and Staff stand ready to make the journey towards true racial justice and peace. We seek fundamental changes in American society that will end police violence perpetrated on Black Americans, and recommit our organization to ending systemic racism, colonization, and implicit bias in our community, programs, and practice.

To begin our process of listening, learning, and healing, WAA will uplift and amplify Black voices both within and beyond our community via a new Black Voices blog on the WAA website.

Many of you know Kaisha S. Johnson, Founding Director of Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA). Kaisha has been a frequent speaker at WAA and conferences around the country, including Colorblind? Equity and the Impacts of White Supremacy Culture at WAA’s 2019 Conference in Los Angeles

Note:

  • WAA is posting this article with the permission of the author. In place of an honorarium, Kaisha asked WAA to donate to Women of Color in the Arts. We encourage you to do the same.

  • The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author. If you’d like to contribute your perspective, article, or story for the Black Voices space, please let us know.

  • To learn more about what you can do, please visit the resources and actions following Kaisha’s essay.

Notes from the Underground Vol. 4: We See You

“I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do.” – James Baldwin

I’ve gone from awe to agony to anger in the course of three days. According to my spiritual goddess guide Audre Lorde, those uses of anger can be a powerful source of energy in serving progress and change. I’d say that my anger is more than a valid emotion in this moment. But actually, my ire hasn’t manifested from the state-sponsored murder of yet another Black man and the social unrest that has ensued since. That elicits its own rage. I’m angry at the arts field’s response to it.

As if moving to some syncopated symphony, arts organizations and cultural institutions are parading out statements of “solidarity” in these moments. I’ve stopped counting (and reading) the endless emails I’ve received from arts organizations touting how they stand in solidarity with Black people. Statements which proclaim they’re shutting down their programming – galas and town halls and education programs and “going black.” How cute. Now, all of a sudden, historically and predominantly white arts institutions want to be “in solidarity” with Black folks? I know what solidarity looks like. And it ain’t this.

Much of the past 10 years of my life leading Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA) – an organization dedicated to creating racial equity in the arts – has been about sitting in rooms of mixed company and talking about how systems of oppression, specifically racism, sexism, and white supremacy, impact the arts – from leadership and organizational culture to artistic trends and philanthropic cycles. I’ve had endless exchanges with the predominantly white institutions that dominate our field and let me tell you that not only have they shown me that they are not in solidarity with Black people – they have shown me that they are against us. Some of those exchanges have looked like:

  • A highly visible city institution, whom requested my help in their endeavor towards creating better “equity practices” for their organization to be accountable to communities they serve, back steps when it’s time to actually walk the walk. After hours of exchange, a written proposal, lots of free mental and emotional labor, and putting together a team of experienced and capable Black women, suddenly there’s not enough time, money, or community buy-in for the organization to realize the initiative. And this is after they’ve solicited and received the grant money to actually do the work.

  • A well-endowed foundation approaches WOCA, unsolicited, with a desire to support our work and bestow upon us with a “gift” because what we are doing is “important.” But this gift comes with some strings attached – dozens of hours of paperwork, an endless drain on mental energy, and an extension of administrative capacity that they know this one Black woman-led organization does not have. When I question the process with a suggestion of a more equitable way of engaging with Black-led and often under-resourced organizations, I hear things like “accountability to the board” and this is “just the way it is.”

  • A prominent presenting organization contacts me, with some urgency, to help curate some “diverse” programming, most likely to course correct on some fucked up policies they’d enacted. After much assessment and deliberation, and hours of work connecting with artists with their various communities, the recommendations I make are ultimately sidelined, with an explanation of “We thought we’d be able to do this now, but we’re just going to hold off until Black History month next year.”

 

I could go on and on. I’ve been working in the arts for over 20 years and I’ve just named a few experiences from my past two. These aren’t just anecdotal; these are lived experiences that could make up a tome of empirical data. These examples demonstrate how white supremacy culture shows up in everything. There’s no room for solidarity in white supremacy culture. Capitalism doesn’t allow it. Paternalism doesn’t allow it. Power hoarding doesn’t allow it.

While I take great pleasure and pride in helping arts colleagues of all cultural and racial backgrounds better understand how insidious and pernicious white supremacy and racism is in our field, it isn’t about “changing hearts and minds,” as some racial equity practitioners would have you believe. Honestly, I could care less about changing hearts and minds. I’m about systems change. And, yes, while I understand that people create the systems, I don’t have the time or energy to change any one individual’s psychology. I can tell you that Black lives matter all day long and we will still be denied that job, underpaid for that performance, locked out of that board room. We will still be choked out in public view. I’ve lived on this earth long enough to know that the only person I can change is me. Part of my work is to help facilitate critical dialogue around history and facts, and, activate critical thinking so people can better understand systems in order to make their own informed decisions of how they choose to participate within, or outside of, them.

Sometimes that lack of participation leads to being “called out.” Frankly, I don't subscribe to this generation’s call out culture; it can be ineffective in creating systemic change. However, it may be the only vehicle one has, so I get it. But, it often reduces racism or sexism or white supremacy to one bad person, or a group of bad people. It causes media outlets to release videos of Amys or Karens doing bad or “racist” things. It causes predominantly white arts organizations to release statements of solidarity so they also don’t get named as a Karen or Amy. They do this in lieu of actually doing the work to end those systems which oppress and that they actively participate and are complicit in.

Racism and white supremacy are embedded in the very fabric of this industrial complex we call the non-profit arts sector. Because what we do here is just a reflection of what we do out in the world. I don’t need any solidarity statements. Black people are dying at disproportionate rates at the hands of the cops and COVID-19. Soon there will be no need to so fiercely protect that theater or performance space because there won’t be any people left to grace its stages or fill its seats.

This here is not a call out. I say all of this because I love you. I love the arts field. And according to my other spiritual guide James Baldwin, “If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.” So stop with the platitudes of solidarity. And stop ending your damn emails and public statements with “We see you and we stand with you.” You don’t see me. But I see you

Forever forward,

Kaisha S. Johnson, Founding Director

 What Can You Do Now?

Educate yourself, and take action - read a book, volunteer, donate, advocate. Californians for the Arts posted this resource page and asked that it be shared freely. It includes: 

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