Visitors reflected on the gaps in their own education and in the need for this narrative to be centered in the American education system.
Thank you for holding a safe space for this exhibition. I was moved to tears. Mainly because the brutality and illness of this type of hate still exists on a large scale throughout the US and abroad. I brought my 14-yea- old daughter with me and am grateful that her generation is choosing to be more open-minded, accepting, and outspoken.
Thank you for the free access to this beautiful museum.
Striking and impressive for Northwestern to engage in this serious provocative way. I recommended for the NU community, for Chicago, and for our country.
As art and art history, it is an excellent exhibition.
Thank you Block Museum for this thought provoking exhibit. My girlfriend brought me here for my birthday because I am an artist / activist. My heart cried at the beauty of the art and the tears of my people in history. I continue to learn more and more about my culture through the eyes of art.
Sobering and distressing but useful both in understanding more context of the Black experience in the U.S… so much learning to do for those of us who have never known such threats. Appreciating the depth and power of Black activism and scholarship into the present.
Thank you for the opportunity.
I came to the exhibit with my 10-year-old daughter, Zadie. It was one of the most powerful exhibits about the image-making process as it relates to Black identity and systemic extra-legal violence.
This exhibit reminds me of the poems by Lucille Clifton ‘I am accused of tending to the past’
Thank you for this public art of memory.
As a newcomer to the United States, I find this important and educational. This is the history of America that is not taught abroad.
I think this was a great and necessary exhibit. Considering the pandemic had many of us home and unable to escape the harsh realities of anti-Black violence has there been consideration for elementary aged Black and brown youth?
Many of these children were exposed to media images before having “the talk” and often have not been provided space at home or within the classroom to discuss or process anti-Black violence and how it’s impacting them daily.
This exhibit is authentic and sobering. Understanding the systemic racism and graphic violence has been generational was what clicked with me. I can only sympathize and learn from the mistakes of the generations before me. As a minority myself, I feel fear the same way, but can’t and will never be able to feel that much fear which grounds me. Thank you for this spotlight on the grim reality the Black community faces.
As an Asian adoptee who struggles to navigate what history means for me, this exhibit brought me to tears. While intersected, Asia and African/ Black history was left undocumented by those who had the privileges of writing history. This exhibit is crucial because I hope it arises discomfort for white people. Being a bystander makes one just as guilty. …This exhibit shows there is also beauty effervescence and continued life.
How might this work become a part of our education? More importantly, why isn’t it a part of our education? This is so well done, viewing from the lens of the enslaved, the witnesses, the perpetrator—to sense the escape of what has been created in our contemporary lives. May this work help us connect to the humanity that is all of us.
I’m Asian. I moved to the US with my own decision because I learned US is a country of freedom and melting pot of races in my country. But it’s not really true, whenever I read news, hear about what’s really going on in the country. I felt very furious and heart breaking after going through this exhibition. I’ll probably give birth in the US and raise kids here. But I don’t have any words to explain about the real shape of this country. I’m very concerned about my ignorance. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to engage with the Anti-Black Violence today.
There was a book toward the back of the exhibit – I cant remember what the title is – but it was religious passages rewritten from Black perspective. I read all of it, there was something about it and how it spoke to the difference in the teaching of Black and White children about racism and violence. I was taught those Biblical passages to the point of memorization at a young age, but not much about racism.
This was my second time visiting the exhibit. This time around I thought about ideas of citizenship, national identity, and national belonging. Specifically, the ways in which egregious acts contributed to alienating and ostracizing Black bodies as foreign in American society. It made me think of the ways in which Black Americans today have strained relationships with identifying as patriotic within a country that shows them they are not wanted and how that reverberates to our present moment.
Thank you for the exhibit. As an older American having observed some of the events depicted from the vantage point of a small black and white TV while a teen; I appreciated the lens and context and heart brought to the viewer to elicit reflection. Yet, the pain is palpable and for that I can only hope and pray that people exit with renewed resolve to stand up and use their voice and actions.
Thank you for bringing this exhibit to Evanston and making it free and accessible to the public. I appreciated how the exhibit was laid out to allow choice to view disturbing images by having a separate “room” with a warning. It was difficult to see but so important – art is not just for beauty but for learning, growth, and reflection. Images were so powerful, disturbing and provoking. May this horrible history not be forgotten.