BAC: Why?

BAC artists performing

In this section we will discuss some general criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of a social justice movement based on class discussions and readings, and intermitently use those criteria to critically examine the BlackOut Arts Collective (those sections are in blue font)

Effectiveness of Social Justice Movements

There are many elements that make a social justice movement effective. A movement can be assessed under three main lenses namely, vision, leadership, and organization (communication + mobilization).

The vision of an effective movement is one that organically cultivates compassion, inclusiveness, love, and freedom while the policy agenda is generated through collective and prolonged discussion and debate. In order to cultivate a dialogue around social justice and political activism, an effective movement must first awaken a spirit of inquiry regarding the sources and supporting structures that create such suffering.

The BAC was founded in an effort to create a space in which Asian, Black, and Latino artists could cultivate, develop and perform socially and politically empowering work with the support of and by members of their own communities. Using the arts as their tool, the members of the organization are able to relate to the issues concerning the communities of color in a novel and creative way.

The mark of an effective movement includes leadership that consistently and continuously exudes commitment to the cause, perseverance in the face of repression, intelligent and tactful approaches to developing policy proposals on the Federal level and action on the street level, inclusiveness in representing and drawing perspective from the masses, and a visionary outlook rooted in a collective social consciousness that extends to the international community.

The leadership structure of the BAC is somewhat unclear, but this seems to be partly by design. As a collective, members are free to pursue their own artistic careers, but they are still what would be loosely considered "conscious artists".

Social justice movements, typically composed of historically oppressed people, have no choice but to rely heavily on "strength in numbers" since economic, political, and cultural institutions have often hindered rather than helped their struggle. Thus, an effective movement must have the capacity to communicate with and mobilize large numbers of people through articulating the problem and solution in honest ways that connect with its constituents and inspire revolutionary action. The processes of communicating and mobilizing in a movement - - through meetings, newspapers, conventions, etc., must inherently be inclusive and non-stop or else the movement will marginalize certain members and dwindle in might. The effectiveness of a movement's mobilization through articulating and circulating movement-related news and calls-for-action is measured by the effectiveness of its organizers.

One of the main features of the BAC, the Open Mic night in NYC has not been held for a few months. According to Piper Anderson, there are plans to revive the event in the near future.

Movements are effective if they are highly organized ideally on local, state, regional, national, and international levels. Organizing, although occurring at multiple levels, must maintain its foundational support from a grassroots level. The most effective organizing is achieved through person-to-person street outreach, which feeds into an overarching participatory democratic structure geared towards strengthening and operating the movement. Through this process of organizing and inclusion, a movement's members are allowed to play a productive role in the struggle and take ownership of the movement, thereby increasing the level of individual and collective commitment and dedication to the cause of social justice. Fundamental changes and social transformation are then attainable goals on the horizon for movements that exemplify this definition of effectiveness and march forward.

In evaluating social movements, it is unproductive to determine overall effectiveness based on whether or not the movement realized their vision because then one can argue that most movements have failed and this is not true. Instead, one must examine the power of the visions themselves and to what degree it provoked the world to in the words of Robin Kelley, "interrogate what is normal." This inquiry in the face of human suffering presents lessons learned by the rise and fall of all social justice movements. However, once a group is inspired to unite and build a nation we as a humanity must not replicate the same models of power-based relationships, alienation, and institutional oppression that provoked our struggle in the first place.