WE COME TOGETHER
We come from the barrios and ghettoes of big cities, from the farms and fields of rural communities, from the reservations of indigenous peoples and the marginalized spaces inhabited by immigrants. From coast to coast, border to border, we are community grounded artists at the battlefront of a struggle to achieve cultural equity.
By cultural equity we mean every cultural community, howsoever that community identifies itself, having the power to define itself and develop itself in peaceful concert with other cultural communities.
This work is a continuation of an ongoing discussion that grew out of a series of conferences in the early nineties. The goal then was to share experiences and find common areas of work to help sustain community grounded cultural work. We were, and remain, focused not on the arts per se but on the material and spiritual health and welfare of our diverse communities.
From the beginning - we were artists who were locally based and at the same time interested in global developments. Each of our conferences had international representation.
We were artists active in the full array of disciplines with a common concern for expressing the realities of our various communities.
We recognize, that we have both major and minor differences among ourselves. In some cases, we speak different languages. In other cases, we have different social structures, different religious and political beliefs.
Sometimes our differences clash. Cultural equity does not pretend contradictions don’t exist. Cultural equity means that we acknowledge our differences and work for ways to live together in diversity rather than fight each other in conflict.
On a practical level, cultural equity means that we not only speak to each other, we also actually listen to each other. We work together where we can and accept that we have different ways of living. We don’t try to force each other to commit to the same beliefs and social structures.
Cultural equity means that we share a responsibility to take care of our environment, to clean up when we mess up, to sustain life (both our own and others), to help each other where we can and most certainly to do no harm to our environment and to all of human life.
Cultural equity also means defending ourselves and protecting others, offering sanctuary to those fleeing oppression and sharing resources with those in need.
Cultural equity is the dynamic of exchange for the purpose of mutual growth and development. Rather than convert others we want to appreciate and learn from others.
Cultural equity means that we recognize, analyze and resist the forces that oppress and exploit our communities. Cultural equity is not passive. Cultural equity is active work to develop ourselves as human beings sharing the planet with other humans.
Cultural equity means believing in the inherent genius of every cultural community.
Cultural equity is not possible without dialogue, without sharing. Our call is for us to share each other’s stories.
Join us, please. Share your story, your views, your history, your dreams. Let us put our heads and hearts together and experience the joy and strength of living together in mutual respect.
Text written by Kalamu ya Salaam
Convener, Voices from the Cultural Battlefront: Organizing for Equity
Voices from the Cultural Battlefront
Organizing for Equity
