From the editor

It can seem like the world is spiraling toward more and more violence. We become numbed to the cycles of intolerance and hate that circle around us. The examples are tragically numerous;

• The racist white supremacists who rallied in Charlottesville, Virginia and the resulting death of Heather Heyer.

• The mass shooting at a mosque in New Zealand.

• The brutal killing of 11 worshipping Jews at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and, earlier, the murders of 9 parishioners of the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church in Charleston, South Carolina.

• The UN report in 2018 that the earth is on the brink of environmental collapse if humans do not start immediately to make changes to consumption and start to take steps to staunch climate change.

Balkanized politics and rampant violence threaten to overwhelm our sentiments.

When these incidents pile up and the temptation to inure ourselves begins to overwhelm us, the strength and beauty of relationships and the true nature of community can become a salve and a hope in the midst of darkness. We can see too that there must be a philosophical underpinning for this sort of community strength.

In the early 1960s, as America was forced to face the legacy of slavery and terror against black people, Civil Rights leaders articulated the concept of the beloved community. The beloved community became a diverse group of people united in their hope for a better future. They envisioned a future free of racism and the stifling segregation wrought by Jim Crow laws. At its core, the beloved community turned its eyes toward transformative hope and redemption to wash away the grime of the depths of hate that produced violence and inequality. By the end of the 1960s and the early 1970s, the shine of the beloved community had begun to fade as progress did not come quickly and as old coalitions within the Civil Rights Movement crumbled.

What if we brought back the beloved community?¹ Could we start such a movement in museums? We know definitively that museums are not (and can never be) a-political. We function within the structures of our society and we are beholden to the vagaries of politics every day. Funding sources are fragile. Powerful donors stand ready to either withhold or to donate money.

Finding our own beloved community – a coalition of people and groups ready to engage with society around the issues that matter – can be our own answer to the galvanizing forces of white nationalism and climate change-deniers that gathers at our doorstep. Our contemporary challenges – which span the globe – beg us to be clear about who we are and what we do. When we emerge with a clear mission and vision, we find that we become aligned with movements, people, and ideas that move us toward deeper and more meaningful relationships across the whole range of human experience and identities. This, then, is our contemporary beloved community.

Allies and friends can be everywhere as we root ourselves in our unique identities and push back against false understandings of history, science deniers, and the rising scourge of milquetoast relativism. The beloved community can regenerate the sickness of our culture and revivify the squalor of our souls. Finding this community must be our goal.

We stumble when we assume that we are the first to have ever struggled in this way. The human condition predates us and will postdate us as well. What do we do with the moments given us? Building into others’ lives is more than good business practice. It is our way to understand and grapple with our humanity and to strive for something greater than petty corporeal jealousies and greed. Being shocked and scandalized by evil doesn't do anything to fight it.

We need to move past cries of outrage and empty dialogue. Action that matters for the world can start with museums. We are trusted, safe places that offer people both sanctuary from chaos as well as a forum to open critical conversations. Embracing this role and standing and acting in our convictions will place museums in the middle of the stickiest problems facing society. That is precisely where we need to be.

As you explore this edition of Museums and social issues, consider how you can get yourself and your museum caught in the middle and how the case studies and examples herein might inform your activism.

Notes

1 Mike Murawski independently suggested that museums should recapture this idea of the beloved community. His references to this concept are at Murawski, M. (1 October, 2018). Towards a More Community-Centered museum, Part 3. Art Museum Teaching. Retrieved from https://artmuseumteaching.com/2018/10/01/towards-a-more-community-centered-museum-part-3-defining-valuing-community/on November 15, 2018.