‘We want access and opportunity’

“We don’t want to be asked to lay out our trauma to tell you how to make change.”

Joy Yvonne Jones is a San Diego actor, playwright and member of the San Diego Black Artists Collective.

It took eight minutes and 46 seconds of a viral video where a man unnecessarily lost his life at the hands of police officers for everyone to go “Oh yeah ... Black lives DO matter.” I appreciate the energy that everyone is putting towards change, but if I’m honest, Black artists have been waiting for you, the institution, to become tired and tell us that we have to wait, because “change takes time.” Which, to us, means our cause is no longer popular. What we really want is to not have to wait for the next public lynching of a Black person for us to matter again. We don’t want to be asked to lay out our trauma to tell you how to make change. Simply, listen the first time. Don’t make us repeat ourselves. WE WANT ACCESS AND OPPORTUNITY:

• Recognize when you’re determining an artist’s qualifications based on privilege

• Decentralize Whiteness in the way that you tell stories

• We want our stories to be a regular part of your programming, not just in February or on Juneteenth

• We want to seriously be considered in casting, not just to give the illusion of diversity

• Recognize that our experiences give depth to our work and should be celebrated instead of suppressed

Artists of color have to do more to be considered professional. We have to be able to hold our own in White institutions while maintaining what makes us authentically ourselves.

We are willing to have this conversation because, no matter how skeptical, we are passionate about our craft and we believe in your capacity to do better. So, listen to us when we tell you something is wrong, and make a change. Finally, do not expect a pat on the back for “trying.”

THIS TOOK TOO LONG.