I am a visual artist, and I make revolutionary art to propel history forward. I'm going to come right out and tell you something: I don't accept the economic foundation, the social relations or the governing ideas of America. My art contributes to fundamental change by encouraging an audience to address big questions from that perspective. Social change is hard, but ideas matter tremendously.
When I say I'm an artist, most people think, "Oh, he's a painter." Behind me, you can see some of the kind of work I do. "Imagine a World Without America" is a painting, but I work in a range of media, including photography, video and performance art. A current project, "Slave Rebellion Reenactment," is going to be reenacted on the outskirts of New Orleans this November.
In 1989, I had an artwork that became the center of controversy over its transgressive use of the American flag. "What is the Proper Way to Display a US Flag?" is a conceptual work that encouraged audience participation. It consisted of a photo montage that had text that read, "What is the Proper Way to Display a US Flag?" Below that were books that people could write responses to that question in, and below that was a flag that people had the option of standing on. The photo montage consisted of images of South Korean students burning American flags, holding signs that said, "Yankee go home. Son of a bitch," and below that were flag-draped coffins coming back from Vietnam.
People wrote long and short answers. Thousands of people engaged with the work in a lot of different languages. Some of the people said, "I'm a German girl. If we Germans would admire our flag as you all do, we would be called Nazis again. I think you do have too much trouble about this flag." "I think that the artist should be returned to his heritage, i.e., the jungles of Africa, and then he can shovel manure in his artistic way." "This flag I'm standing on stands for everything oppressive in this system: the murder of the Indians and all the oppressed around the world, including my brother who was shot by a pig, who kicked over his body to 'make sure the nigger was dead.' That pig was wearing the flag. Thank you, Dread Scott, for this opportunity." "As a veteran defending the flag, I personally would never defend your stupid ass! You should be shot!" -- US Navy Seal Team.
As you can see, people had very strong reactions about the flag then, as they do now. There were demonstrations of veterans in front of the Art Institute of Chicago. They chanted things like, "The flag and the artist, hang them both high," evoking images of lynching. I received numerous death threats, and bomb threats were phoned in to my school. It was a very dangerous situation. Later, President Bush called the work "disgraceful," which I viewed as a tremendous honor, and Congress outlawed the work.
(Laughter)
I became part of a Supreme Court case when I and others defied that law, by burning flags on the steps of the Capitol. That action and the subsequent legal and political battle led to a landmark First Amendment decision that prevented the government from demanding patriotism be mandatory.
But let me back up a bit. These people literally wanted me dead. What I would do at this moment would make a difference. This is me at the exact same moment, eight stories above that crowd. It was supposed to be for a photo shoot that was going to take place on the steps where the veterans were at that time. It wouldn't have been safe for me to be there, to say the least. But it was really important to do that shoot, because while some wanted to kill me, it was also a situation where those who viewed the American flag as standing for everything oppressive in this system felt that they had a voice, and that voice needed to be amplified.
The point is this: changing anything -- whether it's conventional ideas about US national symbols, traditional thinking challenged by scientific breakthroughs or ousting an authoritarian president -- requires a lot of things. It requires courage, luck and also vision and boldness of action.
But on luck -- I have to say, the photo shoot we did might not have worked out so well. We laughed after we were out of the area. But the thing is, it was worth the risk because of the stakes that were involved. And in this case, the luck led to a wonderful, profound and powerful situation that was also humorous.
Thank you.
(Applause)
