MacArthur Fellows Speak Up

As many of our grantees spoke up last week, MacArthur Fellows also had a lot to say about social justice, racial inequality and other long-standing institutions that have led to recent protests all over the United States and beyond. Known for their exceptional creativity in a wide diversity of areas, we have taken note of these Fellows’ commentary and remain inspired by their creative work in their fields and beyond.

Check out what they said over the past few weeks, browse our staff’s thoughts on racial justice, and share your feedback in the comments:

“I have mostly kept quiet on what is happening because I’m afraid once I open my mouth the screaming will never stop.” — Rhiannon Giddens, Singer, Instrumentalist and Songwriter

“It’s not just anger over what happened to George Floyd or Breonna Taylor or Ahmaud Arbery. It is anger about continuing to live in a world where there is this presumption of dangerousness and guilt wherever you go…when you have to navigate this presumption of guilt, day in and day out, and when the burden is on you to make the people around you see you as fully human and equal, you get exhausted. You are tired. And I would argue that the black people in the streets are expressing their fatigue, their anger, and their frustration at having to live this menaced life in America.” — Bryan Stevenson, Human Rights Lawyer

“We, in this country, want to always say that ‘slavery was a long time ago, and what does that have to do with today?’ But what we see today is a direct lineage from that idea that Black lives are worth less than white lives, that Black people are innately suspicious, and that you have to use violence in order to control this population.” — Nikole Hannah-Jones, Journalist

“Look at these beautiful moral fusion protestors of every age, creed, color and sexuality, engaged in nonviolent mass action in the grandest tradition standing for justice. We shall not be moved! Somebody’s hurting my neighbor, and it’s gone on far too long, and we won’t be silent anymore.” — William J. Barber II, Pastor and Social Justice Advocate

“I have given up trying to describe the feeling of knowing that I can not be safe in the country of my birth…How do I explain to my children that the very system set up to protect others could be a threat to our existence?” — Titus Kaphar, Painter

“Culture of violence is inherent in colonial forms of power, the western museums as modern temples of loot, their contents procured by colonial dominance. Where art thou? We should demand more from museums and cultural institutions towards social justice.” — Shahzia Sikander, Painter

“In short, any horror about protestors’ violence that doesn’t at the same time bring up the much more serious problem of police violence reveals the investments of the critic in maintaining a system where the police are allowed to use violence whenever they want, typically against populations that are marginalized and usually invisible.” — Viet Thanh Nguyen, Fiction Writer and Cultural Critic

“Art history and art museums were built on looting. Also the silence of our museums and cultural institutions usually so interested in ‘diversity and social justice’ right now is deafening...” — Teresita Fernández, Sculptor and Installation Artist

“Movements are always led by young people, and it’s mainly young people out there now…There is a lot of positive in what we’re seeing. We don’t want George Floyd’s legacy, and all the other people who have been injured and killed in the fight for freedom, we don’t want their legacy to be sadness.” — Stanley Nelson, Documentary Filmmaker

“Today my son and I participated in a protest organized by Black Lives Matter DC in solidarity with all those who have lost their lives due to racism and police brutality.” — Lisa Cooper, Public Health Physician

“I can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but I see hope. I see progress right now…there are significant swaths of people and communities that are not black, that to some extent have some perception of what that pain and that suffering is.” — Ta-Nehisi Coates, Journalist