just sent to the woman who has replaced me as director of ArtTech.
and the complications of bargaining for legitimacy =3D
negotiation is always a struggle with privilege and assumption - i still
maintain that the real work
lies in what you are willing to give up. not what you have lost, but what
you continue to cling to
as your "right: -
QUOTE:
i am - among other things - the director of an arts-activist group in
vancouver. i recently secured
us a $20,000 grant for a multimedia project involving
poverty-mental-health and racial conflicts. the woman who agreed to take
this over has been agonizing with the responsibilities that she feels she
ought not have, and the
following is a letter i sent her - it fairly well explicates the function
of privilege, the invisible assumptions
by which we all judge others.
susanna what you wrote on =91voice=92 is very profound. indeed you have =
found
yourself in a challenging position of negotiating multiple voices lately;
administrative voices mediating the more tormented voices of troubled
lives, where very basic and very mundane realities collide in the
significance of money, subsistence and survival.=20
these are so similar to my own struggles with ArtTech, recognizing my own
middle-class complacency in the wake of more desperate lives, it was an
incomprehensible collision of privilege and an extraordinary conflict
with recognizing my own guilt of complacency when dealing with desperate
lives.=20
you have been confronted with a myriad of images and symbols, certainly,
in the work of representing Others; I think the difficulty is in
recognizing how the work of representing the needs of others often has
nothing to do with our own lives.
arlene, for me, represents/and IS one of those women who struggle in ways
that she cannot articulate without a language of
therapy/analysis/symbolism - and you and I benefit tremendously from ou=
r
middle-class acquaintance and comfort in self-exploration and
understanding.
middle class is not always an income, but is a perspective of white
people in the world, an assumption of comfort and =91rights=92 that arlen=
e
does not have access to =3D she has been punished and damaged from her
experiences of being an Indian/navajo/dine, and she has been dismissed as
a woman, in a male-dominated profession - her anger is genuine, and the
privilege of recognizing how to work through emotion is very white, and
very middle class.
this is not to say you or I are awful racists, but is instead to position
arlene as marginal to the privileges we enjoy.=20
her struggles are certainly connected to years of gruesome and offensive
exclusionary practice, and her internalizations are problematic for us, a=
s
we assume that people who struggle ought to look after themselves, and
arlene thinks that her struggles are sacrifices that ought to be rewarded
...
we are all accurate in our assessments no one is wrong, but we all suffe=
r
differently from what is asked of us when we start engaging with people
who are not white-middle-class
and who cannot draw from those reasonable choices.=20
the funders are wrong to have made us wait, and to continue to make us
wait this way ////////////////
and it is because people like arlene and mark have nothing and no one to
draw from when they are working towards a project that has been promised
financial support. This does not legitimize the abuse that you have been
subjected to,
but perhaps highlights the struggle you encountered in trying to tell you=
r
story in a context
where you are representing those who cannot speak for themselves to the
groups who control something like when you might eat, or pay your rent.
it is a terrible burden, and I feel for you in ways that exceed my
expression I also knew that of all the people who might assume this
burden, you were most able to know when to stop and focus on your own
needs and you do, which is so heartening. I know how exhausting this wor=
k
is, because no one is giving back to you what they expect you to put into
the work.
=20
but by the same token, this is the way systemic inequality functions. Thi=
s
is why arlene is marginalized =3D your anger is justified, but it also ne=
eds
to be channeled away from those white middle class folks who can share in
your syntax, and recognize how structural exclusions paralyze people like
arlene and mark ... they don=92t know how to tolerate bureaucratic
indifference=20
AND your ability to pressure the funders depends upon your ability to see
that you represent the marginalized and oppressed, and not the privileged=
.=20
this is difficult, because needing the approval of the privileged is
something we all seek =20
but in this case, the funders are WRONG and it is your responsibility to
speak on behalf of those who have no access to the outlets that you do, t=
o
emphasize that funding for nonprofit marginal communities is not a
privilege but a responsibility, and you don=92t have to apologize for
needing the money it is a promised fund that is 3 months overdue.=20
I know this is hard, and as soon as the money is received it will get
better., but don=92t underestimate the differences that systemic needs of
mental health, racism, sexism, and so on create.
oiy! Did I preach? I wish I were there to help you through this, but I
also know you are able to construct the kinds of help you need. Tell me i=
f
I am out of line here.
be well,
save your voice but don=92t silence yourself!
diane
' 'We have destroyed something by our presence,' said Bernard, 'a
world perhaps.'
(Virginia Woolf, "The Waves")
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +=20
diane celia hodges
university of british columbia, vancouver / university of colorado, denve=
r
Diane_Hodges who-is-at ceo.cudenver.edu
' 'We have destroyed something by our presence,' said Bernard, 'a
world perhaps.'
(Virginia Woolf, "The Waves")
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +=20
diane celia hodges
university of british columbia, vancouver / university of colorado, denve=
r
Diane_Hodges who-is-at ceo.cudenver.edu
' 'We have destroyed something by our presence,' said Bernard, 'a
world perhaps.'
(Virginia Woolf, "The Waves")
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +=20
diane celia hodges
university of british columbia, vancouver / university of colorado, denve=
r
Diane_Hodges who-is-at ceo.cudenver.edu