Atlanta Arts category interest

People ask me, “What are the razor blades for,” or “What are the wrenches for?” They are for whatever you’ve felt, whatever you’ve seen. Then, how do you use it. Do you just take it all in and let it burn on you like acid, or do you take that very same thing and make something meaningful out of it. Do we talk about it—”there’s a hole over there you’re going to fall into.” Or do you act like you don’t see it and let your brothers and sisters fall in the hole? What do you do? It’s always on you. All of us have had these experiences, but do we ignore them, do we acknowledge them, do we act like they’re not there? A TV reporter asked me what I thought about Mandela being freed, and I am elated of course. But I also know that after the celebration people will recognize that they are killing more people now, like the 13 who were recently killed at a peaceful demonstration—the police shot into the crowd again.

Thompson: I recently heard a call-in show on public radio about the transition to a new government in South Africa. Callers, who were predominantly black, were very concerned that the new government was not going to be a true democracy; they were concerned about the communist rhetoric of the African National Congress. Then an Eastern European voice came on and said, “Why can’t you just let the people form their government and make whatever mistakes they have to make. They will be their mistakes. Who are you to question them about democracy?” Most people in this country, not just blacks, have never seen a true democracy.

Maynard: No, we haven’t. And to have the illusion that we are in a democracy is unbelievable. I tell little kids, communism, democracy, republican, democrat—you’re sitting home with your family eating and somebody bounds through your door and says you’re eating the wrong thing, or you’re dressed the wrong way…What do you think about doing that under the name of any credo to any human being? Forget all those words—they mean nothing to us. It’s one human being to another. What I said to the TV interviewer, in essence, was “Walk in a black South African’s shoes for 10 years—live, work, and raise a family under the same conditions. Then let’s sit down at the table. It’s the only way you will understand. You will have to experience it.”

Look at the land we’ve lost here in the Southern U.S., think of all the bogus deeds and promises given to us. Your grandfather and grandmother worked for years under the assumption that they owned something other than worthless paper. Look at all the lives that we’ve lost, look at how drugs have devastated our community from coast to coast. Look at our devastated educational system, and who we have teaching. Look at what basic rights should be, for every human being. Everyone needs the dignity of meaningful work. As you’re growing, you must feel that whatever you’re doing will be meaningful.

Thompson: But people want to be blind to it. I don’t think the middle class has yet realized how bad off we are, and they are.