Notes on a visit to the annual members meeting of the ACLU in DC.

To listen to the webcast, click here.

Providence

October 17, 2006

On Sunday I trained it down to DC from Philly for the annual conference of the American Civil Liberties Union, excited about the prospect of being on a panel of artists who use their art to speak out on civil liberties issues.  I will now skip the “bland and anonymous – “I hate hotels” rag and go right to the conference.

Inside the halls of the convention were people from all 50 states plus Puerto Rico whose professional and personal goals revolved somehow around the idea of keeping and expanding the civil liberties first outlined in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Far from a College Art Association conference, where I wander aimlessly looking for a job (never happens!) and seek competitive advantage over other attendees also seeking jobs and connections, here the excitement and common purpose was palpable.  These convention goers talked about rights struggles on international, national and very local levels, and they are anxious to share and listen to everyone else’s stories from the front lines. 

The speakers on the main panels were every one of them interesting, inspiring and affecting, many deserve mention by name: the Reverend Lawson; Nadine Sosson, President of the ACLU; Anthony Ramo?, Executive Director of the ACLU; Vick ….., head lawyer for the Intelligent Design Case in Dover, PA; …. A college student who was listed by Homeland Security as a credible terrorist threat because he protested government policy, and on and on.  The stories they told, and the intelligent and common sense arguments they made for the continuing need to fight for and defend civil liberties in the USA moved me. But it was also a joy just talking to complete strangers and finding out what their various lives were about.  I met an older woman from North Carolina who emigrated from Austria during WWII – her father was Jewish, her mother Christian.  We talked about her support of the ACLU since almost the year she arrived in the states, a cause she has felt strongly about for over 60 years.  But when, almost by accident I asked if she was following the story of the Klimpt paintings just returned by the Austrian government to the descendants of their rightful owners, she said, “Of course, and more so because Egon Shiele painted my mother 11 times, and I still have one.  Wow!  Her family left Austria with three drawings by Scheile -- in one her mother was “colored orange,” which her mother didn’t like.  They sold the first one right away in the 40’s so that the family could survive in the US right after they arrived.  She then sold the second picture when her daughter needed money for college.  The third drawing she still has, and cherishes, and will give to her daughter when she dies. 

The first night’s program included a discussion between Supreme Court Justince Anthony “Nino” Scalia and ACLU president Nadine Sosson – a very informal and informative peek into how one of the most powerful tool in the right wing’s bag of tricks thinks and determines his rulings.  The next up were two media personalities, one …. From Air America, a liberal lesbian fighting the good fight, and a somewhat right wing (it seemed to depend on the issue) t.v. or talk show host (how do I know?) who hogged the floor and seemed to be more interested in shocking us with his half baked right wing views (“You can’t even tell me why a baby, 15 minutes from delivery at full term, should be allowed to be aborted!” as if anyone was trying to make any claims on anything even resembling such a horror!).  Then, unfortunately, I went to bed early and missed two poets “slam for rights”

Monday morning again was filled with inspiring panels but as I was “on,” I was only able to view one part of one before descending into the “ACLU Action Room” to set up a short lived viewing of my prints of former detainees at Abu Ghraib.  That went well, though only a handful of people stopped by.  Art is important, but tables with buttons do better.

Then the panel.  At this point, 24 hours after the panel, I feel less like it was the fiasco that I first imagined.  I just feel disappointed in myself for not really grabbing the electronic bullhorn and explaining to the audience why, in fact, I was there.  The conversation turned around censorship of artists, whether or not each of us on the panel had been censored, and how we assessed the current censorship atmosphere in the US.  Unfortunately, I just went with the conversation, which, to tell the truth, though important, isn’t a topic to which I can bring much light, and certainly not in comparison with the work I have been doing with former detainees in Abu Ghraib.  The panel was humorous, the conversation lively and sometimes even sharp, but it was dominated by the four professional entertainers (it is hard to understand why we are all lumped together as “artists” in the first place) who knew much more about the spotlight and how to use it to communicate their issues than I do.  We talked about how Canadians are more tolerant than US residents – a truly pressing issue --  and I left the panel, and DC altogether depressed that I had missed a really wonderful opportunity to say, “ yes, I have been censored, but what I am doing now is using my art to help others create a voice for a group of innocent foreigners who have been brutally abused by and for the American government, and whose stories somehow continue to not be heard.”  At least the prints were seen, as they were the backdrop on stage and thus in much of the live video.