Dripping and wet

I am finding that, as I show up at community events in my capacity as an arts organization leader, I brush up with different kinds of people. A certain group of people would be folks who come from big institutions (i.e. banks, conglomerates, corporations, etc) who loooove to pat themselves on the back for partnering with community orgs. Earlier this past week, I was in a conversation with one such person. After I let her finish gushing over her institutions resume of community partnerships, I said to her:

"That is just right that people like us from institutions should be partnering and contributing to the community. It is just the bare minimum that we can do."

I was talking to my husband after, and we talked about the use(lessness) of white supremacy. He said that, while white supremacy is useful in that it has vast monetary resources, at the end of the day, it's actually quite useless. I agreed, adding that the only way that white supremacy attains self-actualization, receives any legitimacy, and demonstrates any usefulness is through its partnerships with the BIPOC community. Otherwise, it's actually...vapid. So, it's important to remember that we can still make use of white supremacy. We can suck it dry of its resources. We can exploit it.

But, let's remember that, once we're done with it, once we've made use of it-to put it away, dripping and sloppy.

In the arts community, I find that some of us strive for validation from institutions. "Oh, look at me, I'm exhibiting at the AGO!"

I like to hang out with other artists who think otherwise. There's a lot of us who think that we are the secret sauce. We are the spice. We are the salt of the earth. Otherwise, it's just a plain, boiled piece of chicken.

On burdens:

Inevitably, institutional power will demand proof from the community that they (institutions) are, indeed, problematic and destructive. "Why does the community think we're complicit to Israeli apartheid? Where is the proof?" They'll say.

Let us not fall for this trap. The institution forgets that the community is under-resourced and over-worked. Worse: it is fully aware that we are under-resourced and it doesn't care. Because its function is to extract labour from the community, disregarding our desperate need for care and rest.

We already have a lot on our plates. Providing evidence of systemic harm is not something we should be doing. Mainly because it is as self-evident as the sun is hot. Instead, the onus is on the system to show evidence that they're not harmful. It is the institution's responsibility to show proof that it is not doing business with Elbit Systems and other Israeli weapons manufacturers.