Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Sharing The Exhibition The Meaning And The Dream part 1





Screams Of The Blkman


So when you have children what do you feel the need to teach them about life, about their racial heritage, about their journey?


Recently my two youngest sons got a day off from school for Martin Luther King Jr's birthday. When I asked them to tell me who King was, they knew very little. I guess they were much like me at their age, "Who cares, we get a day out of school, Yeaaaa!"


So as a dutiful blk mother I had them both read about Mr King as well as his "I have a Dream" speech.
Something I had never read myself until recently.


I was a little better prepared for Blk History Month


Screams Of The Blkman Exhibition 2014 

Everything I do is for my enlightenment and then to enlighten others



Screams of the Blkman was born out of a need to relate to my eldest son's journey as a blk male growing up in a wht coated society. He had just graduated from high school and was about to embark upon a new journey, one he would have to travel mostly alone. You can't take your mother to college. During his senior year in high school he decided to totally rebel against the box I had placed him in by growing his hair and wearing it in braided form, a style choice I'll never quit understand. 




The original paintings started out with an image of a screaming male, something I am sure my son often related to growing up as an only child, raised by a dominant single mother who spoke in a predominately  female language. 

Believing strongly in always making a good first impression, I advised him as he went off to college  "Never let your blkness speak before you do". He in turn made sure his blkness was the first thing people saw, the rebel. 


His thought, why not, I'm Blk

When most people see me they see a blk women, and that's ok because that is what I am, in part. But being blk doesn't define me. It is however a part of my make up. When I was young I never wondered about the color of my skin, my hair texture or my facial features. It never came up. I grew up in an all blk neighborhood so everyone I knew looked like me.
Now-a-days everyone wants to know, "Where did they come from, what other race they are  mixed with, and how can they cease from just being blk", it's as if no one is satisfied with being blk.  Because of my hair and cheek bone structure people would often ask me, "Where are you from?". This always puzzled me because I  knew I was from here, American. There is no denying I have African ancestors, but I am an American. The question wasn't asked to see if I was an American, it was asked to see if I was more then just blk. You see in this world's minds eye just being blk makes you substandard. I would often answer, "I am sure that I am mixed with something, I believe most people living in America are." Americans are the mutts of the world. However just to clarify;  going by the rules setup by our forefathers, I am BLK.
EXHIBIT A
THE ONE DROP RULE:
If a person has one drop of Negro blood he is consider a BLK.

Should one Drop Determine a Race





What is your one drop?
Does it make you Inferior?

When I was a youngster  I never considered myself very pretty, however one day while walking passed a glass building in downtown Chicago I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the glass. I was all grown up and I was beautiful. I stood there for a moment in total amazement. Clearly I had never taken a good look at myself before, you know a really good look through unclouded eyes. 
As a kid I was just one of the boys.

EXHIBIT B
THE MIRROR OF REFLECTION:

Those that stood in front of this mirror during the exhibition read these words while looking at their own reflection

"Who taught you to hate the color of your skin? Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair? Who taught you to hate the shape of your nose and the shape of your lips? Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet? Who taught you to hate your own kind? Who taught you to hate the race that you belong to so much so that you don't want to be around each other? No... Before you come asking Mr. Muhammad does he teach hate, you should ask yourself who taught you to hate being what God made you." 

Most stated  to me how they felt afterwards. It made them reflect upon things people had said, or images  that made them dislike parts of themselves. The mirror made them aware of their own self-hatred. And gave them the opportunity to reject it.   


One of the most compelling pieces in the Screams of the Blkman Exhibition was the mirror that bore  
the words of Malcolm X from a gathering in  Los Angeles, 1962
The Mirror of Reflection

Stay tuned for part II. . .