Hello and good sun to you! I am proud to say that my book is in the final editing process and the cover art is coming along nicely. Progress! In the mean time, here's some art I made and a SHORT history lesson...
I call this Ceci n'est pas America by me. Very catchy, I know.
The Statue of Liberty isn't actually called "The Statue of Liberty". Its full title is Liberty Enlightening the World, which is an oxymoronic title for an American monument. It was a friendship gift from France in 1933 to commemorate the centennial anniversary of America's founding and liberation of all slaves following the Civil War. It's now one of the most globally recognizable symbols of freedom and democracy, ironically placed on the shores of a young country that learned from its dear old mother, Britain, how to build an empire by force. Only, America didn't want to be like mum... America had "mommy issues" and decided to make that everyone else's problem. Much in the same way that arsenic will kill you as dead as a pack of cigarettes a day, America and Britain differ only in the branding. Britain liked to force itself on the world like a vengeful Mary Poppins, doing things for our "own good". They just knew better than everyone else, so of course they should rule the world! But America liked to be the hero, the cool guy, swooping in to save the day with empty promises of democracy and a better world. America isn't like other imperialists, it's trendy! So light up and keeping smoking that American-dream tobacco until you get there! But the dream didn't come for everyone, as promised... Because it wasn't for everyone. The dream was rigged from the start.
This photo shows Lady Liberty, in all her glory, with crowds thronging to see her. She welcomes everyone to Ellis Island with the promise of a better future. One of her feet is standing on a broken chain and shackle, to symbolize the end of slavery. She proudly holds a dated inscription of America's declared independence in one hand, while the other holds a torch representing "progress" above all. The plaque within her pedestal reads as follows:
"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
'Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!' cries she
With silent lips. 'Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!'"
Everyone loves a story; everyone also loves a sale. "Go to America and you will be free, prosperous! Go to America and you will be wealthy." If we look at the historical truth of America, Lady Liberty promises something that isn't really there.
Lady Liberty is the luring-light of an angler fish, drawing hopeful people from around the world to admire her as the reality of America consumes them. America is a butcher shop.
The America advertised in pieces like these is a falsehood. It's not real, and it never has been. Much like René Magritte's The Treachery of Images (A.K.A. "This is Not a Pipe"), Lady Liberty isn't what she seems. She is, and isn't, America. America isn't even America. America is complicated and gory tale of desperation, hypocrisy, mercenary actions, and greed; all in the pursuit of a dream that relies on denialism to make it real. You can't have freedom and liberty for ALL while denying those rights to anyone. Not. One. Not African slaves, not women, not Indigenous Americans, not children, not LGBTQ+ persons, not disabled persons, not refugees, no one. We have to let go of this illusion. We have to break free from false dreams that can and have killed millions.
The last part of this piece, the last history lesson I want to give, is about fire. There are two kinds of fire, good and bad. Good fire cooks our food, warms our hands, and maintains healthy ecosystems. Bad fire rages out of control, burns hot enough to boil-away rivers; it kills. Both are fire, but one is essential to life. Since the colonization of America, it has forgotten good fire. It has declared that all fires are bad, dangerous, and must be snuffed out. This bigoted ignorance against fire has caused bad fires to rage across the country, consuming homes and lives. Every year it gets worse. As we suffocate the good fire that's meant to keep the land safe and clean, we leave more and more opportunities for the bad fire to strike up. That same attitude towards fire has been applied socially; America does not like revolutions despite being proudly born from one. It does not like to be questioned, to be changed, or be held accountable. It wants suffocation and silence. Conformity and Constance. Lady Liberty stands for an ideal that is not earnestly embodied in our social structures. Her face is heavily shadowed, despite being a beacon of light, as fire consumes the paper. Silently burning.
I will not be silent. It is time for America to burn with good fire. It's time to face the past and clean up our messes. It's time to stop being afraid of fire. Let it burn. Let the good fire burn away America's dishonesty, it's falsehoods. Let it open earnest conversations about change and facing our past. Let the fire burn away all the bad we've accumulated so that we can be reborn as something true, something honest. A nation who is willing to mourn its mistakes instead of hiding them. A nation that can make good on all its broken and empty promises to help the helpless.
That is the America I dream of.
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