Artists Blazing Pulse Shines Light on Ferguson Atrocity. National Outspeak Swelling.

October 13, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Editors' note: Creative projects in the arts—literature, poetry, music, art, dance, and more—are a vital component of an emerging mood and spirit of resistance. To name a few examples: An article in The New Yorker by Jennifer Gonnerman, “Before the Law,” documents the story of a sixteen-year-old Black youth who had three years of his life stolen, locked up for being accused of taking a backpack. Alice Goffman’s book, On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City, brings readers into the pervasive climate of terror enforced on a Black community by law enforcement. (See interview.) The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, by Edward E. Baptist, tells how on the basis of slavery, the United States grew into a modern, industrial, and capitalist economy. A video produced by Spike Lee's 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, Radio Raheem and The Gentle Giant.

A team of volunteers, including new to the movement for revolution, explored a range of cultural responses to the murder of Michael Brown, the uprising in Ferguson, and related expressions of resistance. Their report follows. And we encourage readers to send in links to your own work, or other works that readers should be aware of. (Send to revolution.reports@yahoo.com.)

August 9th, American racial tensions were sparked alive, when police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed unarmed Mike Brown. Artists saw this as an urgent time to use their voices. Facts are facts. Police brutality and nationwide militarization have been in high gear. Aggressive dinosaurs on steroids discriminating against Black and brown people in Ferguson, proved nothing has changed. There is a growing wave of artistic expression in response. Artists allow for the political message to be stretched. Through poetry, song, dance and art people can stop, people can think and listen.

Mainstream media does not participate in communicating an unbiased truth about all this. What the news tells is skewed, towards corporate interests; thereby, backing the interests of those with power. Truth is one of the most important words in our language. Youth, drawn to all kinds of art, are ultimately looking to connect with a message and asking big questions. Racism, discrimination, class, poverty, mass incarceration and excess militarism all are core issues involved in the outrageous numbers of shootings by police. Since youth are influenced by art, teachings and answers to questions can be given by artists, and artists seen as healers.