Race, Politics, Art and what old black people told me

I have periodically touched on race as I've worked on the scrolls and recently was inspired by something said by former president Ronald Reagan's son on his 100th birthday. He made a statement that Reagan was a better friend to blacks than  President Obama. My experience as an African American under then President Reagan was quite different.   Without going into details , I was stricken by what Michael Reagan said and by recent statements by political figures over slavery, anti colonialism and  Mau Mau's by potential 2012 presidential candidates. Recently the Nixon library has undergone a transformation regarding Watergate because his supporters who ran the library were trying to invent a narrative that made Nixon the victim. Much of these revisionist lies are an effort to win the hearts and minds of people in swing states and to make sure corporations owned by people like the Koch brothers get maximum profit.  But it's also a way to create and impose a reality that makes people not have to think or consider those impacted by the decisions made.
As a child , when I did something inappropriate, an older black person would say that it was what " they" wanted me to do. As I've grown up I know through experience who "they" are. And what profits or successes by others (like cops etc) lay in my failure as a poor kid of color. Just another statistic.
If there was one consistent purpose for my continuation of the scrolls and the War on Terror it's being heard and not having to be forced to defend or explain to others what my reality is about.
 I found an affinity for Do Ho Suh's work as a Korean whose work reflected a life in the military that is imposed on him by forces beyond his control. His sculpted piece Karma shows a giant foot about to stomp on several tiny figures running away speaks to me about that sense of oppression. Particularly with the shoes being shiny and the pants of the figure being clean pressed in appearance.

My current work in process is of several figures who have gone with the lies and distortions about people of color and used it to take action. I also added historical figures to  historical context. Surrounding a stencil of the word " Nigger Lover" I have President Reagan and in the center, Newt Gingrich opening a magic hat with several "race" cards" , many of which address things white conservative and liberals have used to address things nationally in the media but also said to me on a personal level. I also use the cards to explore the power dynamic about who really has power and how do they use it. Nathan Bedford Forest and the Klan are in focus as well as Michele Bachmann , James O'Keefe and several others who use race and xenophobia to further political agendas.

In speaking truth to power in this particular part of my work I looked to Kara Walker's silhouette's of the sexual exploitation of blacks during slavery. I also read work by Time Wise, who is one of the few people I know of besides Cornell West that addresses issues of race in a more honest way. My current focus has been on the right  wing emphasis on President Obama as something other than American and what it means. There's a part of me that get's uncomfortable addressing these issues because I'm often put in a position to defend Al Sharpton , explain crimes or incidents involving blacks, Jesse Jackson or denounce people like Reverend Wright, Farrakhan and look at blacks as though we are equal to whites in status and power. The scrolls  allow me the power to speak without thinking about other people's feelings and I give thanks to 60's cartoonist Robert Crumb for paving the way for me.

 I look at David Levine's work more and do caricatures on the scrolls in some part but I still go back to portraits and what I  enjoy most. Pete King was tailor made for caricature and it was easy to do him at that moment. The Reagan image was done without using any photo reference and trying to remember him as I saw him as a kid.