A few days ago, I put up a video that have outraged certain members of a community group here in Melbourne. As a result, I’ve been notified by that group that they are in the process of letting African communities know that I am ‘anti-black’. A strong response to a video that was essentially created to address an incident of cyber-bullying by an African sister, where I had been discriminated against. It was also a simple call for a dialogue, which was denied in to me in a PRIVATE forum. Because cyber-bullying and discrimination is an important issue to address, I had utilized my page as a means to express myself PUBLICly and create a platform where all sides can be heard. The poem was inspired by a letter-writing prompt common in poetry workshops to help stimulate expression.(ie Write a letter to a person, dead or alive) “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” ~ Martin Luther King “Throughout his life, Dr. King warned us to refrain from keeping silent – to speak up when we encounter injustice. Dr. King reminded us not to sit on the sidelines of life and watch injustice; rather we need to speak out and consciously push back against it.” Since the last few days, I’ve received threats and general unpleasantness from people who had missed the mark completely about my intention for putting up that video. I am being persecuted on 2 COUNTS. So let me just SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT. 1) I’m accused of trying discredit the need of having all-blacks spaces Not True: I completely agree that it’s important for black spaces to exists. Just like it’s important for female spaces, or Polish spaces, Greek Spaces, Sri Lankan spaces, Chinese Spaces, kids spaces to exist… However, if it’s stated in the ‘About’ section of this group, that its: ‘creating online and offline spaces for UNTING THE ARTS AND ALL THE PEOPLE.’, then you can see how it’s misleading and leads people from other ethnicity, like myself that are connected to black art and culture, to feel that we are welcomed to participate. (then to be attacked without provocation, when entering the space, then blocked) 2) My actions are rooted in Ego for having my creative work being critiqued in the forum. Again, NOT TRUE. It is a direct response to the personal attack by the moderator, due to my ethnicity, and other reasons unknown to me( because I don’t personally know her) and also the need, I feel, to speak up when an injustice had occurred. I made references to the critique she made of my previous work, but this public post was a response to her act of discrimination towards me. Having said all that, one of my mentors shared an important insight with me today. He said, ‘the very necessary discussion on race & discrimination runs the risk of becoming an exercise in taking sides. ‘ And in hindsight, I could have reframed my expression, so that the whole African arts community wouldn’t feel the need to take this on as their collective fight, when I was actually sharing my story and adressing ONE isolated incident, involving ONE African sister. I wish you well - those I have interacted with. I wish us all peace, and compassion as we moved forward on the path of healing and progress. With love, Eeda youtu.be/iRIAc8brs-8
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 21:32:30 +0000
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