Tanene Allison: Follow the Artists to Our New Democracy
EJS has been fortunate to work with Tanene Allison on the past, especially when she worked for the National Campaign to Restore Civil Rights. The topic of dissent and the role of artists in helping us more towards a new and improved American democracy is something that resonates with our work. This was originally published Apr. 1 on The Huffington Post.
“Why am I compelled to write?… Because the world I create in the writing compensates for what the real world does not give me. By writing I put order in the world, give it a handle so I can grasp it.” – Gloria Anzaldua
I have been thinking a lot about the role of artists and writers in this new era of our American democracy. As we emerge from an eight year period where any form of dissent was inherently labeled “un-American,” you can feel our country struggle to regain its footing around how best to move forward. Newspapers are shutting down at a rate previously unseen and everything about how we think and get our information is shifting in ways that requires creative thinking and a visionary ability to see things that have never yet be.
O, let America be America again — The land that never has been yet –
And yet must be — the land where every man is free.
- Langston Hughes
