Art and Injustice

“I can only trust the movement that is producing art, whether it’s poetry, or visual art, or dance, or music—it doesn’t make any difference. But there has to be that overflow that says, “We are on the move. We have enough to give and we’re going to give it. We have more than enough and we can give it.” – Daniel Berrigan in Sojourners Magazine March 2010 (www.sojo.net)

Strange how art and music have been cut from public education over the past few decades and how the arts in general perpetually teeter on a budgetary edge, when human joy and passion so often translate from one person to another via music, song, visual arts, poetry. I find that my passion over an issue, over a story, over my children, can emerge positively through writing while – if submerged – erupt in frustration or irritation. Joy and pain find their way through the cracks in our rock façade as trickles that carve a channel through art. As Daniel Berrigan remarks in the current issue of Sojourner’s Magazine, he only trusts the movement (be it peace, justice, etc) that produces art. That movement alone will have enough energy to sustain its efforts and draw others in.

In thinking of such movements I hear the songs arising from the Civil Rights era– so powerful and so contagious. I see the border art on the wall in Nogales, Mexico and hear the music of Los Tigres del Norte and read the amazing literature surrounding the immigration issues of today (The Devil’s Highway by Luis Urrea, Across 100 Mountains by Reyna Grande). These are a few examples of art that springs from an endless source of passion and energy that cannot die while injustices persist.

This weekend I will be thinking of those who march in Washington DC for immigration reform. Those marchers and the people whom they represent who have fled economic hardship only to arrive – after perilous journeys – in a country where they live among the shadows, subject to many forms of injustice and persecution. These individuals now live in a country which holds out a Help Wanted sign in its factories, kitchens, and landscapes while building a wall at the border and detention centers in its cities. Let us move forward in our dialog on this issue and make progress with our legislation.

Praying with our feet,

Use words only when needed.

Trample injustice.

-Laura Dravenstott