Grace Fuels Courage
At our 2024 national conference in Chicago, I failed to acknowledge the one-year anniversary of October 7th. Two people pointed this out to me – one a stranger and one a friend I’ve known for years. When this concern was expressed by my friend, I felt I had failed to acknowledge her humanity. I apologized – sincerely humbled.
As we consider this moment in our nation’s history, GIA is reflecting upon the role of arts and culture to affirm our own and one another’s humanity by replacing binaries with complexity and finding beauty in transcending those binaries. While we call out others for failing to acknowledge the humanity of Trans people, female-identifying people, birthing people, and racialized people; we ourselves risk continuing the cycle of harm caused by binary thinking. At times like this, we must cultivate our own humanity, by nurturing allies rather than developing recrimination.
“What about ME?” is a human question; one motivated by our desire to be seen and to have our humanity affirmed. It can also cloud our vision and instead of fueling allyship, fuel revenge and retaliation. We’re seeing that desire for revenge being leveled against nonprofits who hold positions with which we disagree as articulated in this article and by our own government at the state, local, and now federal level.
Recognizing that we are vulnerable or even under attack in some contexts and privileged and oppressive in others is humbling and requires courage from ourselves and grace from one another. We often more easily identify these dichotomies in others than in ourselves.
For instance, while I could waste your time enumerating the ways in which my people are oppressed, I must instead admit that I am perceived as male and receive un-earned privilege because of it. This is just one of my many un-earned privileges. I believe the maintenance of gender binaries harms us all, and I must still own this privilege that I receive. This privilege not only makes my life easy but makes it easy for me to cause harm without even realizing it. I am lucky to be part of a community that – rather than seeks to punish me for my privilege – points it out as part of an ongoing process of building a more loving community as Aja Couchois Duncan and Kad Smith articulate here. This calling in is done by people who publicly own their own privilege as a matter of principle. We must provide the grace that facilitates one another's’ courage if we are to expect courage from each other.
Unless we own our own privilege as we call each other in, we merely invert long-standing power-dynamics, continuing to cause harm that weakens our own communities. When we fail to see those that are manipulating our emotions for their gain, the enemy becomes one another as Maurice Mitchell articulates here and in other written pieces. We must protect one another. We must not be distracted by our own desire for revenge and retaliation against our colleague at the next desk, down the hall, or at another organization.
I am moved by our colleagues’ generosity and courage in efforts such as the Jewish Open Letter, in which Jewish funders ask their fellow Jewish funders not to punish nonprofits for their pro-Palestinian positions. This position is courageous and compassionate while refusing to ignore the centrality of anti-Jewish hate to white supremacy.
We have before us the opportunity to engage in principled struggle recognizing that we are oppressed in some contexts and privileged in others while still holding ourselves and each other accountable in the spirit of love.
I am lucky that I get to learn how to do this with all of you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eddie Torres is president & CEO of Grantmakers in the Arts
