The Black radical tradition of hope
I
am constantly asking myself these questions: Why does the
decolonization of museums matter? Why do I continue to visit these
colonized spaces knowing they rest comfortably in their resistance to
change? I see museums as liminal spaces. The word “liminal”
comes from the Latin root, limen, which means “threshold.” The liminal
space is the “crossing over” where you have left something behind, yet
you are not yet fully in something else. When museums operate in their
full liminal potential they are able to tell non-binary histories. For
US museums this means acknowledging colonialism, imperialism and white
supremacy while also striving towards a decolonialized future.
While
I’m not certain all institutions have this potential, I believe art and
cultural institutions do because many of their mission statements
already lean in this direction—but too often they do not have the
internal institutional courage to move from polite social justice talk
to radical decolonized action. This is why it is critical that the
public continue to apply pressure to power, so institutional leaders do
not become complacent or complicit. I stand in the Black radical
tradition of hope. I believe it is possible for art institutions to
serve as a zone between the “what was” and “ the next.”
What was, is a dark history of colonization and human exploitation.
The next, is a decolonized world. It is coming whether the keepers of colonization want it or not.
think
absolute power depends on absolute control over knowledge, which in turn necessitates absolute corruption
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