Maybe life as an American would we be easier if everyone who was racist still walked around in white hoodies. That way it would be impossible to deny.
Instead, it is everywhere-- in the laws and systems, and in the hearts and minds of individuals. In an election response to those who were surprised that racism just won a presidency, the author said, "For a lot of people of color, this election was really about trying to find the lesser of two evils. America asked us: “How do you prefer your racism — blatant or systemic?”
Alongside the re-adaptation of oppression -- the lynchings now metaphorical, the laws ever pervasive -- art has been evolving alongside it to express the emotions that are simply beyond words.
A common point of contention among our freedoms is that of free speech versus hate speech. The lines between those two speeches are mucky and unclear at best. We see this most often on college campuses when it comes to inviting speakers who are too far on one side of the political binary.
But when we introduce art to this conversation and throw in "freedom of expression," the area just becomes grayer. Artist expression ranges from paintings, to movies, to music, to sculpture, leaving endless possibilities for a creative mind to add narratives to the story of racism in America. The story is told and re-told in new ways every year, connecting the historical past to a historical present.
The KKK didn't always wear hoods and burn crosses. The white hoods became iconic around the time of the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation, a film which remains an American masterpiece today. The burning crosses started out as nothing more than for cinematic effect, romanticizing the experience of Clansman. The remnants of this artist expression still exist today, symbolic as ever.
We know the power that images have when it comes to race and injustice. The decision made by Emmett Till's mother to allow before and after photos of her beaten son made the statement that racial injustice was not to be ignored.
Photographs taken of the Civil Rights protests still circulate today, leaving us to wonder what ever happened to the white people in those photos? Did they act like it never happened? Did they go on to raise their children the same way?
Art today is doing a lot of work to start difficult conversations and exploit ignorance left and right. It is every bit as much about the artist's intentions as it is about the finished product. When Dana Schutz, a white artist, decided to make paintings based on the photos of Emmett Till, this sparked controversy.
There was a recognition that this narrative was not hers to tell, and the idea of a white person profiting off of the exploitation of the black community has become all too normal. The area grays because of her right to express her perspective on this dark cloud which hangs over American society.
Fashion is another art form that constantly is bumping up against cultural appropriation, which is just another form of racism. Makeup, in particular, has recently raised a lot of questions about "freedom of expression" when it comes to blackface.
Kim Kardashian was just recently accused of blackface when she photographed with her skin looking much darker than usual. While the Kardashians are no strangers to cultural appropriation, they aren't the only ones making the same mistakes time and time again.
Recently another Beauty Blogger "invented" what she called the 'Chocolate Challenge,' issuing images of white women with have their faces covered in dark makeup and even brown eyes. Comments swirled around asking questions about whether or not makeup artists have the right to do this, for the sake of the art.
As problematic as the images are, the reactions by those involved are even more so. People of color are tired of hearing excuses: "I didn't know blackface was a thing" or "I was just more tan that day."
The narrative of the innocent white person who doesn't know any better does not hold any water in 2017. Cape Town Magistrate Daniel Thulare agreed when he ruled Dean Hutton's "Fuck White People" posters were not racist or hate speech.
Conversation is better than silence, which is why art is so impactful. The cliche goes that a picture is worth a thousand words, but now we see images stirring up thousands of words from its viewers.
Art's ability to evoke emotion is crucial to the conversation of racial injustice in this country. If empathy is the remedy for racism, art is a vehicle by which we can all get there.
