A Conversation With Artists

  "I'm troubled with the state of our country. I fear for my life and the safety of my children." My dear friend and creative partner stated without reserve. I agreed feeling the same sense of anxiety.  The faces of America's latest sacrifice to the unspoken system still burning in my heart and mind.  The victims of the  June 17th massacre at Charleston, SC:
Sen.Rev.Clementa Pinckney;41, husband, father, spiritual leader and politician,
Rev. Sharonda Singleton;45, minister, educator, and mother
Myra Thompson;59, church member, Tywanza Sanders; 26, college graduate,
Ethel Lee Lance; 70, church member, Cynthia Hurd; 54, librarian, Rev. Daniel L. Simmons; a retired pastor, Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor; school administrator,  and Susie Jackson;  87
  I speak their names because there lives were significant.  Seeing their faces,  reading their brief life summaries hit close to home. I looked at their faces and saw people that could very well have been friends and even family,Susie Jackson being just a few years older than my own grandmother.
  As Black Americans we all live in the same sense of terror. It's the band- aid of civil rights that was applied in 1964 ,being snatched away, exposing the infected sore of white supremacy and racism that are deeply imbedded in the foundation of America.

 "What should we do? As artists we have to do something." She insisted.  I agreed.
As artisans we are charged with the responsibility to use our gifts to uplift humanity and avoid becoming tools of propaganda at every turn. Each time we paint a portrait, create music, pen prose or poetry, photograph a moment, produce works for stage and screen, we propel a narrative and influence the world.
  I encourage and celebrate my fellow creative forces of all races.  I pray that we draw from the courage within to conceive work that incites an open dialogue on racism, terrorism, the dangers of white supremacy or any form of racial supremacy for that matter. Our gifts can spark the healing and repairing process. If all lives matter then Black lives definitely matter.