I mean it as praise or at least as an exhortation to address injustice. Artforms like music, dance, poetry and the rest aren’t inherently subversive, but it can be used for that purpose. I grew up amidst protest songs, cinema that portrayed and protested injustice and racism; demonstrations; and other symbolic acts (including art) intended to subvert a status quo that embraced those ills, and to raise our consciousness to the defects in our society. I suppose it was my generation’s attempt at “wokeness,” only without focusing adequately on racial injustice until the Civil Rights Movement.
I bought the Kindle version of Maus the other day. I don’t recommend it, but only because the Kindle software presents it in a format that is barely readable. I read the first 34 of 95 pages on the first sitting. I found nothing offensive or objectionable in it. It was entirely anodyne, if a bit sad. There were no curse words or prurient graphic panels, but perhaps those things occur later in the novel. It won’t matter to me. Words themselves do not distress me – only the way they are used. For me, there is no offense in words like Motherfucker, Cocksucker, or Cowboy. But utter a racial slur or label an individual in a way to “other them,” because of who they are (their immutable Self), and that pisses me off.
Now that fragile white culture has decided to ban books and perhaps burn them, it is time for our artists to respond. Like scientists and clinicians called upon to stop a global pandemic, our artists need to take to the front lines in a war against bigotry, history denialism, political abuses, and anti-democratic movements. I think it is time for musical anthems that call out racial bigotry, authoritarianism, Trumpism specifically, the cancel culture of white nationalism, and the rest of the toxic brew that manifests White Grievance.
Joy Reid had Jonathan Harris on her program last night. He’s the artist who created a painting that shows the image of Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King and Malcom X, subversives depicted together, being whitewashed by a light skinned arm. The piece is titled, “Critical Race Theory.” This is what we need. It is a brilliant piece of art created at the opportune moment of the first week of Black History Month, but we need more – all year long to keep a bright light on bigotry, racism, injustice, inequality, privilege, authoritarianism, and just plainly shitty human behavior.
Artists arise, subvert these motherfuckers and their institutions!
