It has been only a few months since the beginning of this year, and it already feels like a lifetime has passed.
The year began with an attack on our institutions of higher learning, the imprisonment and deportation of individuals exercising their freedoms, and the shuttering of vital federal institutions which serve our country’s health and educational needs. And now, with the closure of the IMLS and NEH, museums are firmly in the crosshairs.
This administration is using anti-DEI policies as a cudgel to attack anything that doesn’t align with a white nationalist imagining of this nation’s culture and history. BIPOC folks, immigrant communities, all marginalized groups that do not fit within that white heteronormative framework are under severe attack.
Writing a statement of condemnation at this point feels too feeble and tame for what we are feeling right now. If you are even passingly acquainted with dictatorial regimes, then you already know that attacking institutions of higher learning, shuttering of libraries and museums, defunding research projects, and closing of vital health organisations is straight from the playbook of dictators, all through history. None of this is terribly original, and yet all of this is devastatingly effective.
Defending the criticality of social and cultural institutions feels pointless. Those who are tearing down social and cultural institutions know the power such institutions hold and the threat to their own power. They are only too eager to attempt to destroy that which does not serve their own narrative.
With curated chaos comes the need for curated action. Now is the time for all of us to come together and recognize that we are not alone. The biggest danger to our now-crumbling democracy is apathy. The powerlessness we feel is to be expected, indeed, dictators are banking on us feeling hopeless and burying our heads in the sand. Despite this, we should not forget that the collective has immense power.
Get organized in the face of chaos. Individually, we can’t do everything, so pick an agenda that you can have an impact on. Collectively, we are capable of effecting change.
- Speak up, even when you are afraid to. Speak up to leadership when you can and speak to your colleagues and the people who report to you. Silence is complicity.
- Work through the existing government, call up/email/meet with representatives and senators, flood the lines.
- Remind our elected officials, in no uncertain terms, that we voted them in and we will vote them out.
- Get involved in local government. Look at the many uncontested races that are still happening. Build people power in your local neighbourhood and get involved to support new candidates. don’t just complain, go do it.
- Volunteer for organizations in your community that are doing the work to protect marginalized people.
- Protest often. Make yourself seen as part of collective power.
- For those with the financial resources, giving as much as you can give to organizations supporting truth and social justice is needed as other funding sources are cut down.
- Form support groups in your museum, and if you can’t, look outside to like-minded organizations and community groups. Find your people.
- Share stories about the present and the past; continue doing what you do in service of the truth.
- Find creative ways to resist and do not obey in advance.
Talk to us at Museums & Race—is there something we can do to amplify your voice? Do you need a way to safely and anonymously share your story? Help us build a community by describing the challenges you are facing. Communicate what you are doing to effect change. We can be an outlet and a safe space for you.
Now is the moment to push back, resist, use your voice and any agency you have to fight back against this attack on your rights.
Museums & Race 