Being Black is not a crime.
BLACKLIVESMATTER.
artworxLA stands with the thousands of peaceful protestors that demand to be heard in the streets across our nation. We celebrate the lives of George Floyd, Ahmaud Abery and Breonna Taylor and the thousands of people that have died at the hands of the police.
The last 12 weeks have revealed the ugliest parts of our broken nation and brought to the surface the inequities that too many of us have grown accustomed to. Not only is the pandemic killing us in larger numbers, but it is just a backdrop to systemic racism that we all know exists. It's just that we can film it more easily and blast it on social media.
As a Black woman and as a mother of a Black child watching the continual destruction of our bodies takes a toll on our emotional and mental psyche. Too often we as Black people and People of Color do the "dance of comfortability" placing our needs, our voices, and our whole selves in a secondary position to ensure the comfort of others.
This must stop.
See our Blackness and stand beside us, not just when it is convenient but ALL the time. Change only comes with consistency and we need everyone to be disciplined in the war on racism. And it is a war, because not everyone is willing to accept the inevitable change and the power shift.
To my fellow POC, we must speak out and speak up against the anti-Blackness that exists within our own communities. Let's raise each other up and abolish the internalized ramification of our racialized systems.
We will not return to a "Pre-COVID" world. It was not working for everyone, and artworxLA will not stand for a system that is designed to favor some over others.
artworxLA will actively work to dismantle racism, white supremacy and anti-Blackness sentiment in our communities.
artworxLA will not stand for systemic racism.
artworxLA will not perpetuate our flawed modus operandi.
The looting over the last few nights is unfortunate but my hope is that everyone is seeing the root cause for the protests as the necessary action of the unheard and overlooked. The looting is wrong. But it is the secondary issue.
When the protests slow what are we going to do? As President Obama said in his statement, "How do we turn our anguish into action?" How has George Floyd's murder changed how you navigate through this life? There is work to be done by all of us as individual leaders in our own communities and we can lean on one another to do this together. Large and small. Strategic systems change to daily actions. From your offices and work cultures; honestly examining your power dynamics and hierarchical structures - to how you vote this november. We all must do our part.
"If you are neutral in situations of injustice,
you have chosen the side of the oppressor"
-Desmond Tutu
Black Lives Matter.
Love to you all.
Stay safe.
Shelby
resources.
We call on our fellow cultural partners to join us in this effort as well. To speak up against racism, and to make a lasting change within arts education institutions across Los Angeles and the country.