In Focus: African American Caucus (original) (raw)
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How much longer are they gonna treat us like animals? The American correctional system is built on the backs of our brothers, our fathers and our sons. How much longer? It's a system that must be dismantled piece by piece if we are to live up to those words that we recite with our hands on our hearts. Justice for all. Not justice for some, but justice for all. How much longer?"-Cookie Lyons, "Empire" (2015) "[The] artist's role is to raise the consciousness of the people….Otherwise I don't know why you do it."-Amiri Baraka 1 In 1969, Larry Neal, one of the most visible black writers of his generation, emerged as a chief exponent of a new artistic movement that was unfolding alongside the Black Power Movement. For those curious about it, he explained that art had a critical role in the Black Freedom Movement 2 as a force to complement grassroots activism and political struggle. Black artists were intimately connected to, and profoundly aware of, the black freedom struggle; and their work reflected this familiarity. "The Black Arts Movement," Neal noted, is radically opposed to any concept of the artist that alienates him from his community. The movement…speaks directly to the needs and aspirations of black America. In order to perform the task, the Black Arts Movement proposes a radical reordering of the Western cultural aesthetic. It proposes a separate symbolism, mythology, critique, and iconography. 3 Throughout the United States a new black mood coalesced around aesthetes who formulated new and audacious articulations of identity and politics that resonated with wider black America. The Black Arts Movement (BAM) would have an indelible impact on the cultural landscape of the country. It transformed the arts and literature in innumerable ways from theatre, to murals, fashion, and more. A half-century after Neal's decree, there has been an unprecedented explosion of black arts in the United States, exceeding the depth, scope, reach and influence of the BAM,
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How much longer are they gonna treat us like animals? The American correctional system is built on the backs of our brothers, our fathers and our sons. How much longer? It's a system that must be dismantled piece by piece if we are to live up to those words that we recite with our hands on our hearts. Justice for all. Not justice for some, but justice for all. How much longer?"-Cookie Lyons, "Empire" (2015) "[The] artist's role is to raise the consciousness of the people….Otherwise I don't know why you do it."-Amiri Baraka 1 In 1969, Larry Neal, one of the most visible black writers of his generation, emerged as a chief exponent of a new artistic movement that was unfolding alongside the Black Power Movement. For those curious about it, he explained that art had a critical role in the Black Freedom Movement 2 as a force to complement grassroots activism and political struggle. Black artists were intimately connected to, and profoundly aware of, the black freedom struggle; and their work reflected this familiarity. "The Black Arts Movement," Neal noted, is radically opposed to any concept of the artist that alienates him from his community. The movement…speaks directly to the needs and aspirations of black America. In order to perform the task, the Black Arts Movement proposes a radical reordering of the Western cultural aesthetic. It proposes a separate symbolism, mythology, critique, and iconography. 3 Throughout the United States a new black mood coalesced around aesthetes who formulated new and audacious articulations of identity and politics that resonated with wider black America. The Black Arts Movement (BAM) would have an indelible impact on the cultural landscape of the country. It transformed the arts and literature in innumerable ways from theatre, to murals, fashion, and more. A half-century after Neal's decree, there has been an unprecedented explosion of black arts in the United States, exceeding the depth, scope, reach and influence of the BAM,