l’art pour l’art, was coined in the early 19th century by the French philosopher Victor Cousin. The phrase expresses the belief held by many writers and artists, especially those associated with Aestheticism, that art needs no justification, that it need serve no political, didactic, or other end. Encyclopedia Britannica
Right, there should be no justification to create art for simply purpose of creative expression. But what if the medium and media provided to create art are facilitated by a cause? Taken one step further, what if the moment was created on the periphery of movement? Specifically, the Black Lives Matter movement.
Making a Left at Albuquerque
In Albuquerque, New Mexico we had such an occasion arise due to the BLM protests organized to shine a light on Police Brutality and injustices by those in power, over people of color and specifically African Americans.
Let me back up a little because, this is, From the Left Field Bleachers, and we always juxtapose something from the sports world with our society at-large and use it as a starting point for conversation. I’ll start with LeBron James, the greatest basketball player of all time – GOAT. He is the greatest because much like speaking out on social issues, he began making his teammates better from the jump – the start of his career. Michael Jordan, on the other hand took longer to realize that he needed to make his teammates better in order for him to get to the next level and that didn’t happen until later in his career.
There have been some notable athletes to stand up for social causes and against injustices from Muhammad Ali, to Tommie Smith, John Carlos and Peter Norman of the 1968 Olympic Games, athletes have taken a stand at their own peril or that of their careers. For example Peter Norman was ostracized and had his life ruined by the Australian Olympic Team for standing in support with Smith and Carlos.
No Justice, No Piece of Art
Back in Albuquerque, Downtown, to be more specific, business owners along Route 66 put up plywood boards to “protect” their businesses from, among others, folks pretending to be protestors but actually trying to incite violence thereby working against the cause. Eventually artists were invited to paint on the plywood boards that covered the windows and doors of businesses, with the general effort being titled Paint for Peace. There were some amazing works of art to be sure. Colorful, creative, adventurous. and many on the theme of peace. But are peace and justice synonymous?
The photos of the art featured in this gallery were taken by Community Publishing in a public setting. The artwork remains the creative property of the artists, please be mindful and respectful of their intellectual/creative property.
Lasting Peace
Semantics mean the world sometime and lets deconstruct the word peace for a second: Freedom from disturbance, tranquility. A state or period in which there is no war or a war has ended. If we unpack these first two definitions in our mind we can imagine a place of, well tranquility. I love peace. I think its should be the goal that all humans should be moving towards. But… Is peace like this dependent on justice. It doesn’t seem like it’s dependent upon any enlightenment on the part of the inhabitants of this planet. A ghost town or a nuclear bomb site provide that type of peace, haunting, fragile and temporary. If we move to the archaic definition, peace is defined as: Used as an order to remain silent. Ponder that as you continue to explore what peace means to you and what it looks like when you visualize it. Should ‘Lasting’ and ‘fundamental’ be part of the definition for peace? I believe so and I think most people do as well. These days and certainly during Black Lives Matter issues/events/protests its more effective to be explicit rather than implicit.
"You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his (their) freedom.' Malcolm X
Fundamental/Foundational Peace is a multi-stepped approach which involves justice, equity and repatriation(s). Peace is a wonderful concept, an ideal that we can reach together, be we need to use our collective voices/platforms to explicitly verbalize the injustices in our society with the aim to rectify them immediately. Whether you are LeBron James on a global platform or one of the talented visual artists on 5th and Central, the time is now to be deliberate when standing for peace and obvious in our plan to get there. What are your thoughts?
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Alex Paramo
From the Left Field Bleachers: COVID University
I once was a college sports fan. Way back when Patrick Ewing used to patrol the lane at Georgetown and the Big East was full of beast teams, I was a fan. As I got older I began turning away from the collegiate game because of the player turnover rate. Players in the NCAA were no longer staying for 4 years and it became harder and harder to identify with a team. I didn’t attend St. John’s University so what connection did I really have to their team if I couldn’t identify the players? To begin with I am no flag waver and besides my alma mater, Queens College, City University of New York is a DII school with an awesome Swimming Team, but hardly a big time sports program.
The Mountain West
When I moved to New Mexico, and attended the University of New Mexico for graduate school, I worked for one of the President’s of UNM where I received a birds-eye view into NCAA Division I athletics. NCAA Division I schools collectively see millions of dollars in revenue individually and billions collectively. The bulk of this money goes to pay Coaches/Administrator salaries and to pay for million dollar marketing campaigns.
Covid 19, as it has in many instances, has peeled the top off of many of our cherished institutions and revealed the true motivations behind their existence: unencumbered profit. It’s one thing to say to adults, “yes there is risk but either you play or don’t get paid.” It’s totally another thing to say to students, “yes there is increased risk but either you play or you can no longer attend school because we will strip your scholarship” and the amenities that it includes, which does not include – a salary.
Sports Center
Let’s be honest, the overwhelming college athletes we see on ESPN are pinning their hopes on becoming professionals in the major sports leagues. The number of athletes who make those major sports leagues is incredibly small. For example, according to the NCAA, only 1.2 of NCAA Mens Basketball Players are chosen for a realistic “chance” to play in the NBA. Similarly, only 1.6 of NCAA Football players are chosen for a realistic “chance” to play in the NFL.
The global pandemic has thrown a whole new set of variables into the equation: healthy life, death and/or a lifetime of illness. University administrators are asking student-athletes to risk their future for a few games that will generate loads of money for their respective universities but no hard cash for them or their loved ones.
Pay for Play for Pay
Under these circumstances, should we force these students to compete without financial compensation that is commensurate with the revenue they generate? Since the NCAA has forbade universities to pay their student-athletes, then these games need to be paused immediately while student athlete eligibility needs to be preserved until the Covid 19 pandemic subsides. What do you think, I would really like to know?
Alex Paramo – find out more about me and my previous articles.
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