God

 There is God. There is no God. There are all the gods who have ever been. The God who lives in nature and the God who lives beyond the universe. The God who listens and the God who hides. The God who is a mystery and the God who is a friend. The God who judges and the God who pours out grace. The God who makes the rules and the God who redeems. The God way out there and the God deep inside us. The God of the East and the God of the West. The God with pure white skin and the God with the head of an elephant. The God who spoke the world into being and the God who ejaculated the world into being. The God who is a Goddess.

God is as difficult, as complicated and as diverse as we humans are. All the accumulated Gods still aren’t enough to make full sense of God. In the end, the only manifestation of the human understanding of God is the condition of the human world.

My celebrity

 

Training

 I believe that police need regular and updated training in effective policing practices and public engagement. But I also think all of us need training on what is expected of us as citizens in general and as citizens in our relation to police.

As we expect police to take more and more responsibility for their behavior, we take less and less responsibility for ours. The concept of freedom has been distorted, racist acts have increased and we have real concern for the social fabric that should bind us.

Beware

 Beware the creeping insidiousness of cuteness.

Beware the creeping insidiousness of self-important influencers.

Beware the creeping insidiousness of medications with nicknames.

Beware the creeping insidiousness of empty spectacle.

Beware the creeping insidiousness of dolled up untruth.

Beware the creeping insidiousness of manufactured desire.

Pledge

 Many professionals take a pledge that commits them to function with integrity and responsibility in their jobs. This is a pledge I take as an artist.

I pledge my commitment 

to the solemn practice of art making

to the belief that risk is fundamental

to the acceptance of failure as a teacher

to the courage needed to sustain a personal vision

to art as a social and cultural gift 

to art as a meaningful conversation with the viewer.

Trust

 The cycle is vicious.  A black man is stopped by white police and is pulled over. The black man is hesitant to respond to police orders. (A lack of trust?) The police ask the black man to get out of the car. (A lack of trust?) The intervention escalates. (A lack of trust?) The police try to handcuff the black man. (A lack of trust?) The black man resists or tries to flee. (A lack of trust?) The black man is shot. (A lack of trust?) Protests happen. (A lack of trust?) Looting happens and businesses close. (A lack of trust?)

No amount of equipment or cameras can resolve the problems that arise in police engagement with black men. Currently there are calls for better training of police. But there also needs to be better training for parents and citizens as well. 

What’s missing is trust, a hard thing to achieve. Trust comes from understanding, experience and honest engagement. We have a lot of work to do all around.

Guns in America

 Policemen with guns kill black men.

Black men with guns kill black men.

Manufacturers make guns that kill black men.

Republican senators thwart gun legislation that could save black men.

This is America.

Anyone can get a gun to kill anyone.

One at a time or many at a time.

Handgun or AK-47.

19, 13, 5 or 6 is old enough to get a gun.

This is America.