From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (misc.activism.progressive co-moderator)
Subject: AMERICAN PICTURES (Pamphlet, side two)
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 19:43:53 GMT

  --->  [Ordering info for book / address/tel for HOLDING A SHOW
	at your campus/community is at bottom --HB]
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	[Thanks again to Mike Meeropol for transcribing this]
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PAMPHLET, (Introduction)
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INTRODUCTION

THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF A BIASED SHOW

This  show deliberately portrays  society from  a one-sided worm's eye
view,  from the position  of those worst off: a  society is no  better
than it is for the least of its members!   Since this view is contrary
to  the one most Americans  have   been brought up  with  - judging  a
society  on  the possibility  for  success  -  it tends  to  strike up
enormous defense mechanism.

CONFRONTING OUR MIDDLE CLASS BIASES

These defenses (and the feelings they  conjure) may  especially become
overwhelming for white Americans,  who are  often mastering the art of
rationalizing poverty and racism to a state of  perfection - and, they
must fight back.   This is a   healthy  reaction since you  are  going
through  a form of oppression during  the show,   but don't let  these
defense  become stumbling blocks which might   close you off   from an
invaluable  and longlasting  experience.   When   black people  try to
express feelings  about their oppression,  they often make a statement
such  as  "White  society  is  solely  responsible   for   the ghettos
(period!)".  What whites always do is to change that period to a comma
followed by a  "Yes,  but" - rationalization:   "Yes,  but what  about
crime?  What  about people  who  don't  want to  work?"   And  so they
immediately try to water down the angry statement of a hurt person.

THE "SHOW" IS OPPRESSION, NOT ENTERTAINMENT!

In American Pictures you will not be allowed to do  that.  You will go
through an incessant  and seemingly  endless bombardment of statements
of  the  type  blacks have  always tried  to express to   us  but your
defenses will have  no outlet.  Thus you are  being  oppressed!   This
process combined with  the length  will  create  emotions in  you  not
unlike  the ones blacks  have,  working and living every day  in white
institutions.   At the  end of the  show you will be  presented with a
chart listing those  emotions.  All of them  are unconstructive in the
short run.  But experiencing how  paralyzed and useless you feel after
such a mini-form of _reverse_ oppression can make it easier for you to
understand why  it is  so  difficult to succeed  for those whom we are
confining through our racism to such emotions from earliest childhood.
And  vice  versa: you may  even  feel how  such emotions  can  lead to
seemingly  irrational and self-defeating  behavior and thus  better be
able to  understand  those aspect of  black  (American) behavior which
constantly fuels our racism.  Understanding how we are  all victims in
such a reciprocal  system and  how it  is threatening many of the best
values  in  our society could in   the long run  lead  to some kind of
action, which is not based  on  guilt,  but   genuine  solidarity  and
self-interest.

SHORTCOMING FOR A BLACK AUDIENCE.

For  blacks   the show is   not  automatically constructive either. To
demonstrate how devastating racism is, it concentrates on that segment
of the  population most   visibly defeated  by  it.  Many   blacks are
effectively trying to  put a shield  around themselves to  avoid being
infected by that racism, and the show  will therefore  create a lot of
pain, which at times  might be overwhelming,  jsut as  it can lead  to
counter-productive feelings of victimization.  But for many blacks the
how has been  a  positive  experience in terms of better understanding
the impact of internalized racism and various forms of self-denial.

SHORTCOMES FOR A EUROPEAN AUDIENCE

For Europeans from more homogeneous societies the  show is perhaps the
most problematic, since the seeming  distance to  the  problems easily
leads to a  patronizing attitude rather  than genuine   solidarity - a
form of racism American blacks are very sensitive to.  Some might even
react  with primitive  feelings   of  self-righteousness  and national
chauvinism - and thus disclose that they are totally out of touch with
the much more inexcusable  forms  of  racism  (that  is  to say:  with
non-historical roots) we experience in Europe.

CULTURAL BIASES

American Pictures reflects in its cultural  views my Danish background
and thinking, some of which  may  seem provocative in other societies.
The most  obvious stumbling  block for British and American spectators
seem  to be the nude and  sex photos,  which in Anglo-American culture
ofter are interpreted as "dirty,"  "sexist" or in  the context of this
show even "racist."  But remember that I come from a society where our
inner  city  parks and family beaches are  packed with nudes and where
the tendency  on  TV is to censor out  violence, but not nude  and sex
scenes which  actually  might  be   just  as  healthy and   natural as
consoring it  the other  way around.   I  don't think I  should censor
these more Danish  views  out  of the show in  America since the  very
value of it is that it is an outsider's views.  And in a society where
black beauty is  hled in such  low esteem these  scenes might sever an
important purpose.

COMPARING WITH WELFARE STATES

In our  search for  solutions to  racism and poverty  I propose tha we
separate the two in our  discussion and limit  it to what  can be done
with the frameowrk of capitalism.  I am  myself  shaped in my views by
the  European concept of   the welfare state and introduce   that as a
possible solution to  institutionalized poverty and  insecurity (Note:
not  racism!)  I  am aware,  however, that   most Americans  have very
little knowledge about it or wrongly associate it with "hand outs from
above," "destroying people's  incentive" or  "just another ineffective
Great  Society  a la the 60's."   But my question  is:  can  a society
afford   NOT to  have a  welfare  state with   equal opportunities for
everyone.

Anyway, I hope the show - in spite of its shortcomings - will bring us
all together in a creative debate about the problems.

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MAIL ORDER FORM FOR BOOKS, ETC.

I order _____________ copy (copies) of the book _American Pictures_ to
be amiled to my address below.  I enclose a money order or personal
check made out to "American Pictures" with $15 for the softcover
___________ or $19 for the hardvoers_________. ($40 for 3 softcovers
_______, $50 for 3 hardcovers _________.)  I would like you also to
mail a copy to my best friend, my most racist friend, my friend in
prison, my friend on welfare, Christmas/birthday gift, etc. (Soft ___,
Hard ___).  Mail it to :______________________________ I would like to
personally inscribed to: ____________________________________ by the
author (expect longer delivery time than 2 weeks_).

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I order _____ posters: A: _______ (girl behind screen,) B: ________
(welfare mother), C: _________ (prison kiss), D:________(Ku Klux
Klan).  $6 each.  $20 for 4.

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I enclose my tax-deductible donation of $ ____ for the work of
American Pictures' non-profit organization (for anti-racism and
poverty programs).

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Send Mail and Book orders to:

American Pictures
P.O. Box 2123
New York, NY. 10009
Phone:  (212) 614-0438

Information on shows:

DAMMAH PRODUCTIONS
P.O. Box 254
New London, CT 06320
Phone:  (203) 443-4278

I WOULD LIKE THE BOOK MAILED TO:

________________________________

________________________________

_________________________________

________________________________

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Transcribed by Mike Meeropol (MMEEROPO%WNEC.BITNET)
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Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive