The full meaning of this painting came forth this year, the medicine and intention of protection, refuge and community. Having witnessed in my lifetime, and understanding the history of this country, the moral necessity of reparations, housing rights, anti-racist policy and justice. I offer this painting in reverence, hope, determination, and solidarity.
Reparations and fulfilling trust and treaty responsibilities to African Americans and Native Americans are a moral necessity. Reparations for the history of slavery, for African Americans enduring a violent and cruel system, that did not pay these Ancestors for their labor for hundreds of years, labor that built the economy of the United States, is a great debt this country owes, that belongs to their lineage. Honestly it is a debt so great that the capitalist/oligarchic system of government is morally and actually bankrupt, and must be reorganized under a sustainable, ethical organization of thriving wellness for all beings.
Reparations are just as morally necessary for wealth stolen from African Americans after the 13th and 14th amendments abolished slavery. The policies of the US government, in all regions of the country, particularly in de jure housing discrimination, stole generation after generational wealth from African Americans. The Color of Law, by Richard Rothstein, documents housing discrimination and how de jure segregation was established, and how once it was established, African-Americans and whites were not affected similarly by subsequent so-called race neutral polices. Race for Profit, by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, documents how exploitative real estate practices continued well after housing discrimination was banned.
I witnessed this in my lifetime, with hurricane Katrina, when African American communities in New Orleans were disproportionally impacted because of racist housing policies. Then in an act of racist policy, FEMA paid homeowners not based on damages to the home but on property values. Exploitative real estate practices continued in the rebuilding after Katrina, homes were bought for low prices when FEMA money was not adequate for repairs, then renovated or flipped. white people that financially benefitted generationally from racist policies and exploitative real estate practices had extra capital to exploit this situation.
This painting is about Home as sanctuary and refuge, that Housing is a Human Right. I began this painting in 2014, and repainted the center this summer. When I originally painted it, my inspiration was an old double-shotgun house I lived in in the French Quarter on Dumaine Street. I felt a sense of sanctuary in that house, and it felt like it came from the building itself, the old wood structure, the high ceilings, open floor plan. The painting was personal, and the photos I used as reference of the Treme Brass Band were from a second line I had witnessed.
The full meaning and medicine of this painting came forth this past summer I repainted the center of the painting, repainted the inside of the house and the Adinkra blessings and proverbs, as well as touching up and oiling the rest of the painting and frame. I was going to meetings of the New Orleans Workers Group, and participated in marches for Housing Rights, that were focused on fighting evictions during a pandemic. It was at this time that the deeper meaning of the painting became apparent. Housing is a Human Right. Our home is sacred, it is our right and need as humans to have safety, security and shelter. The strength of the Brass Band and Second Line is in full purpose, tradition, and solidarity to protect these rights of the people and the community. And it is in witness of this strength, devotion, solidarity, that All is Blessed.
This is more than about fighting evictions, because evictions should not be an issue. To begin with, reparations that repay African Americans the debt owed to them by the US are a moral necessity. Further, housing, healthy food, and clean air and water, and freedom (prison abolition) are Human Rights for all people. The wealth inequality in this country and globally that results from exploitation must end. Dr. Martin Luther King fought with peace and love against the 3 evils of racism, poverty and war, this can be extended to include systemic racism, wealth inequality, and exploitation, state violence, prison and climate crisis. We must respond to greed, hate, and delusion with the paramitas and the brahmaviharas. We must work for anti-racism, reparations and wealth equality, prison abolition, and non-harming to all beings and the environment.
Furthermore, New Orleans is a city that is at the frontline of the climate crisis, where the leveed Mississippi river meets the wetlands of the gulf coast, ravaged by oil and gas. When we discuss safety and shelter here, it is in the context of this existential crisis. As James Baldwin said, nothing can be changed until it is faced. We must be optimistic, to believe we can survive, and so survive we must transform our world. Because deep in our hearts, we all have a dream, that we will awaken together with all beings, and live in peace, love, and liberation, throughout all creation. ॐ मणिपद्मे हूँ,