For the last few days, we have been witnessing a popular uprising across this country against racism and anti-Black violence. As the number of victims of police brutality mounts, their names will forever be attached to this moment of national reckoning—Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, David McAtee. Many have come before them. At the Vera List Center, we express our deepest sympathy to their families. We stand in solidarity with Black artists, colleagues, and people who are hurting and protesting.
As curfews across this land curtail the right to speak up against racism and state-sanctioned violence, people pour into the streets. We join them in demanding equity and racial justice. We recognize that as an arts and culture organization, we are implicated in a regime of historical and ongoing systemic oppression of Black and Indigenous people and as well as immigrants and other marginalized groups. And we acknowledge that change must start at the very foundation of an organization—the value statements, principles of governance, organizational structures, staff, and financial resources, long before art can be realized, presented, and discussed.
“If Art Is Politics” is the prompt that has guided our programs and a restructuring of our governance over the last two years. Art as a political practice makes demands on the structures that hold it—as if it were a political party platform accountable to its principles. In October 2020, we will embark on “As for Protocols,” a new two-year research project that considers protocols of both control and empowerment and proposes new terms for engagement that are more mutual and inclusive.
Caught between a global pandemic and martial law, both of which will continue to impact Black lives in disproportionate measures, striving for equitable and inclusive conditions in our art institutions and the field at large is crucial to dismantling systemic racism. In every facet of this work, we are guided by outstanding artists and thinkers who point to better ways of being and coming together. They hold us accountable, every day anew, and we are committed to honoring their work and principles. What is unfolding in the U.S. embodies these basic principles, and we pledge to support them as part of our mission, and in the fight for justice and equity.
Here are links to some of the organizations leading this movement. We encourage you to support their work however you can.
Reclaim the Block: fund our broader movement
National Bail Fund Network —Directory of Community Bail Funds
