Well, Milledgeville was a trip on several different levels, I don't even know where to start. It should be said that Art as an Agent for Change did start at Georgia and College State University, a school that is 90% white....and one can no doubt feel the whiteness of the campus.
It goes without saying that a tour that focuses on exploring systems of oppression was likely to spark some discomfort not only amongst attendees but anyone that was aware of the tour stop. That didn't stop us from trying to get folks in the room. In fact we shut down the dinning hall in an attempt to create last minute buzz, check out the video below!
AAC did their thing well as usual, rocked the crowd and John caught a little footage I'll
share with ya'll.
During the performance we all noticed that there was a man in a nice suit sitting in the back of the room. After the performance he approached Paul and I. After telling us he enjoyed the performance and supported our alternative views he let us know the AAC was not welcomed to perform at the upcoming fall fest that they had been asked to perform at. He said that it just wasn't the right crowd and that there were elements in the admissions office that were not ready for AAC's message. It suddenly became painfully clear why Milledgeville is over 50% percent black and GCSU is 90% white. Good luck on "diversifying"!
After that mind numbing experience we hit my favorite coffee joint in Milledgeville, BlackBird coffee, and got a honey latte to take the edge off before hitting the road to Statesboro.
Photos by,
John Reynolds
www.curiousjohn.com
Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee
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