Recently, my family visited the National Museum of African American History in Washington, D.C. On our two previous visits, we started on the first floor, taking the elevator deep down into the bowels of the building where the beginning of enslavement in North America is brutally described. This visit, we chose to ride the escalators up to the top floor where we were encircled by exhibits describing the many contributions of African Americans to our nation. A quote by James Baldwin projected above us, “People evolve a language in order to describe and control their circumstances.”
The 2023 Boise Day of Remembrance focused on the power of words. When we mention this phrase, we often turn to inspirational speeches, poems, or stories that can uplift, enlighten, and bring us together. However, we forget that words also can be used to manipulate, dehumanize, and divide. And, if we fail to recognize this power, gross violations -- like the mass incarceration of an entire population based solely on their ancestry -- can occur.
This collaboration with the Idaho State Museum, Boise Public Library, Boise Arts & History, Wassmuth Center for Human Rights, Boise Valley JACL, and Minidoka National Historic Site featured our short educational film, Power of Words. Kurt Ikeda from Minidoka National Historic Site discussed incarceration. Christina Bruce-Bennion from the Wassmuth Center explored The Spiral of Injustice, identified demeaning language used today, and how it leads to the spiral of injustice.
The physical design of the National Museum of African American History symbolizes what occurs when we allow inhumane acts to go unchecked, beginning with the use of dehumanizing words that lead to discrimination, then to violence, like a spiral plummeting to the bottom floor.
We closed this year’s Day of Remembrance event with the poem “Legacy” by Lawrence Matsuda, a call to action for all of us to be “upstanders” and interrupt the spiral of injustice.
The link to program video from ISM will be available shortly on our website.
