No Longer at Ease: Artwork opportunity for critical thinking

I wonder what her [love] is like.

Yeah, I [knew] her (in the biblical sense).

Move [young lady]. Get out the way!

You've heard them all before, and I'm sure not in the sterile, Target-like version you currently see in print. Most of us have even danced to them in some variation.

But when they are put forth in a more aggressive form. Let's say in a photo exhibit on the second floor of the Art and Journalism building, some people lose their minds.

"Take it down," some of you said. "Everybody can't handle that type of expression."

Never mind the fact that that is precisely the type of knee-jerk reactionary censorship that should be avoided at all costs.

Especially given that we are in an academic environment.

Never mind the fact that by saying everybody (and honestly, if you're one of the people who said it to me, you specifically meant white people), can't handle it, you avoid the very real issue of the piece - the degradation of women.

Or you can refer to it the way the creator of the piece, Marcus Holloway, did - the illness.

If you haven't seen this piece, please do, and when you do, note how there is now a written component to the presentation (that wasn't there previously).

The exhibit consists of a number of photos, some green-tinted, some not. Some pictures have women in stages of undress, both in shots reminiscent of "Girls Gone Wild" and another styled as a traditional nude studio shot.

Other pictures are of men typically interacting or posing, with or without the women, and a couple of photos depict a young child.

The problem to most people hasn't been the pictures themselves, but their framing - words, lyrics, everyday conversation, both derogatory and apologetic, representative of the treatment of women, by men, and yes, specifically black women by black men.

Why should it be taken down or censored?

Censorship is, with few exceptions, not allowed by the First Amendment. Cases such as fighting words, an incitement to riot or child pornography are examples in which freedom of expression is both taboo and unprotected by law.

This is a case of none of the above. It is an example of a work of art that has the opportunity to create a dialogue conducive to learning and growth. There does exist such a thing as academic freedom: a freedom necessary on a college campus to deal with an issue such as "the illness."

The argument that everyone can't handle the exhibit is unsound when you don't allow people the chance to decide for themselves what the piece is saying.

And the notion of black people needing to keep it in house?

It's a sorry excuse used to avoid the issue and it's tired.

Not to mention it's an idea that has not and never will work, particularly with an issue that can be seen and heard daily.

Instead of trying to silence artwork that gives birth to critical thinking, why not do what should come natural in a college environment?

Think.