Unbroken (2 of 3)

We all know what American Cultural Life is. It assaults and offends us daily with distorted values and denies our history end existence. For years now the right]wing has been pushing its degenerate nostalgia ] a yearning for the "good old white days" ] into our living rooms through the mass media. Now, under Reagan, American cultural life has become increasingly empty and egocentric. Violence, racism and sexism are now fashionable. At the same time, fewer end fewer minorities in the mass media, and sympathetic portrayals of Asians, if we think hard, are less than a handful. A few years ago, we protested the reemergence of Charlie Chan and Fu Manchu. Last summer, we found reincarnations in slicker productions such as Sixteen Candles and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Under capitalist society, art has always been a commodity. Esthetic values are secondary worth measured by arbitrary and superficial standards. And as seen in the previous exam] powerful ideological weapon wielded by the ruling class to reinforce national and class oppression. No matter how much we do as individual artists or progressive activists, it is never enough to reverse the completely racist media which is blatantly dehumanizing and oppressive. The dominant art and mass media reflect the ruling class' ideological outlook, which is chauvinist and exploitative. How else could they maintain their power and profits?

While the ruling class owns controlling interest in the airwaves, publishing houses, film studios, etc., it cannot totally suppress the expression of minority and working class culture ] the outgrowth and creative expression of our existence replete with its joys, sorrows, humiliations, triumphs, vacillations and resistance. Culture expresses peoples' existence, and for Third World people and working people, includes a howling, fierce condemnation of the discrimination and suffering brought about by capitalist society. It's a story that may not be televised on prime time but it's a message kept alive in the community through progressive theater, literature, storytelling. It's a flame that cannot die as long as people resist.

We don't need any more media junk to demoralize us or to poison our children's minds and distort our self]images. We need strong, truth]speaking art to provide hope enlightenment and inspiration. Art can illuminate, can validate experience and break isolation and despair. Art can elicit the response, "Yes, that's what it is! Yes, we can make revolution! Yes, we, too, have culture!" in a deep, personal way. This is the unique contribution that artists can make to the collective struggle of Asian people, Third World people, and working people of all nationalities.

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