Open Eyes of Racism

Open eyes see
Racism everywhere
Don’t fucking look away
You know what you saw
You know what you heard
You witnessed the harm
You were part of the harm
You stood silently for too long
You accepted the lies
Made them your truth & tradition

Time to break down and
dismantle white supremacy
We must relearn our history and look
Deeper for the unadulterated truth
Racism is the deepest
crime against humanity

Newly open eyes will feel
Rage rise at the injustice
Don’t look away
Use your anger as fuel to
Give rise to the wisdom
and empowerment of
Black, Indigenous,
People of Color

Look racism in the eye
See it in your own eyes
Stare it down
Own it
Stop it

This is our Expressive Art exercise about racism and anger. Prompt by @ckyourprivilege In the Co-Conspirator Lounge.

I wrote as many things as I could fit about racism that make me angry on this 18×24 paper. Then I used an old, ruined paint brush to smear and slash color onto the paper.

Then I used a foam brush to spread it out. I applied different colors and made many layers and these eyes emerged. It felt good to use a lot of paint and be fast and imprecise. My strokes were big and sweeping.

It felt good to feel, name, and move with my anger and see what emerged. I didn’t have a plan. I just let my anger lead the way. I filled up all the whiteness of the paper with color.