Emory Douglas
Black Panther Minister of Culture 1967–1980
Talking about the ability of the Black Panther Party to inspire, one of the things the Panthers definitely did inspire is the whole counter-culture movement. Not just it’s political manifestations, but even things as you mentioned, hip hop, music in general, punk music… the MC5 for instance identified with the Black Panther’s calls for a White Panther party. That counter-culture today is a lot more corporatised than it was then. Even though it may still be politically interested, that political involvement is a lot more regulated along more mainstream political battle lines. The current US election is a good example, where the counter-culture is rallying behind Obama and the cause of the Democratic Party. How do you feel about artists become election campaigners, and almost propaganda-machines for the formal political parties? Do you think in the case of the Obama campaign there’s something genuinely new and inspiring about him that warrants the support of the artistic community, or is it a bit naïve for artists to think that any candidate, be they left or right, can liberate society in the same way that art can free people’s mindsets?
Well I think that what you see here is as it relates to Obama is that he is a symbol that represents change, more so than any of the other candidates. The genie’s out of the bag. People are highly aware of the Bush administration. People have come around, who were in denial, naïve, about the government. Its misdeeds around the world have been exposed. So you see a lot of common folks who want change. And they see Obama articulate change across the board to a broad spectrum of folks who in different ways, and on different levels, want change in a mainstream way. He speaks to that. So you have another kind of movement that’s going on in this country, broader in it’s scope than it was then, even though you have some of those same elements, and you have more mainstream folks involved now. So that’s what you see, the frustrations with the dictatorial policies of this government as it relates to wanting to change the constitution. Wanting to have a green light to do whatever it chooses to do and not be held accountable. So you have all things, where people who took the constitution to heart, who took the rule of law to be the way it should be- who were taught that way all their lives and were conditioned to think that way- now seeing that the government wants to not do that anymore. So they’re highly frustrated.
© 2008 EMORY DOUGLAS -ARTIST RIGHTS SOCIETY- (ARS)