“You have to have hope for the future to be an artist.” –
Talib Kweli
I took this winter class over my break, Watching Race in US
Media (by Dr Paula Ioanide) and it had a very big impact on me. The winter class
was a truncated version of Dr Paula's full semester course, but even in those two
short weeks, I learned a lot. It unlocked another way of thinking and an
ability to analyze that I had never really put much effort or thought into previously,
but more than that it taught me a lot about things I hadn’t really thought about in depth before. Our class was focused on race in US media but through that
it exposed me more to the social injustice that’s happened and still continues
to happen in this country. And being a minority in this country, it definitely
was applicable to me.
My mind, my eyes and my knowledge had been broadened and I
questioned what I was doing with my life. We don’t really have gen eds at
Murdoch University the same way we do here so I kind of jumped straight into my
theatre degree, and as I’ve progressed through it, things inevitably got more
and more specific to what we’re studying. Taking Dr Paula’s class made me think
and feel like I had missed out on learning so much and made me question my
decision to study performing arts. I guess one of my biggest goals in life is
to help people and when I thought about why I was doing theatre and how it
related to helping people, it didn’t quite match up in my head. I was doing
dance and theatre because I loved it. It provided this outlet of expression with
the things I had troubling saying; it made me feel less alone; and it brought
me into this world where I didn’t really care what other people thought of me. Maybe I'm not the best dancer and maybe after, I do care about what people think
of me, but in that exact moment when I’m dancing, when my body, the music, and
my heart take over, I could not care less what anyone else thought of me. Even
three days ago, I had this idea in my head of leaving school to take dance
classes and auditions in LA or New York City. I’m not sorry that sounds so
cliché. There is absolutely nothing wrong with those reasons, but I was very concerned that it seemed selfish and I wasn’t
exactly sure what that said as a reflection of me or how it aligned with my
goal of helping people.
I remember feeling really lost after our final Watching Race in US Media class and almost being in tears because I was feeling so conflicted.
But after participating in the staged reading of Dream Acts* and attending the
Talib Kweli event tonight, I know that dance and theatre is definitely what I want to do. We'd had one rehearsal for our staged reading of Dream Acts and already at that level, it was impacting and the
questions and discussions that followed after our performance was proof of
that. People were learning things and asking questions – conversations were
happening, knowledge was being gained and awareness was being raised. I sat at
the Talib Kweli event tonight and I looked at all of these kids, students and community
members that were there. A group of bros sat behind me and before the event
started, all they were talking about was things like, “Yo, I wonder if he’ll
rap for us”. I wasn’t sure if they really knew what he had come to Ithaca for. I wasn’t even exactly clear on what he
was going to talk about, what he stood for. And I didn’t know how many other
people in that room did. But one thing was really clear – they were all there
to see Talib Kweli because they admired him. Maybe they didn't really know what he was there for, maybe they did; but they came and they listened, and they asked questions. As Macklemore raps in his song
Otherside: “Us as rappers underestimate
the power and the effects that we have on these kids”. And it's true.
I guess I got lost for a moment, but once again, I’m seeing
theatre, music, dance – performing arts – impacting and educating people,
spreading knowledge, raising awareness, being voices for people who can’t speak
up, beacons of hope for those who don’t know what to do.
This is what we’re here for. To start conversations, to enlighten and to make people ask questions. To be the voice to the voiceless, and the hope for the hopeless.
I feel very privileged to have been a part of Dream Acts and
to have sat in the same room as Talib Kweli and listened to him speak about social justice and activism.
I never thought it’d be a rapper that would indirectly
remind and reassure me that art, in its myriad of forms, is indeed what I
want to do with my life and the medium through which I can help people.
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Dream Acts is fictional play about five DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) act eligible youths and the challenges they face trying to live ordinary lives while being undocumented. This bill has been in review in Congress since 2009. As of the end of 2012, 8 states have implemented their own versions of the DREAM act. Find out more information here and here.
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