Act Now! For the People
“Don’t be afraid to tell your truth.”
Each month in the Artists 4 Democracy newsletter, we share actions that you as an artist can take to help strengthen our democracy as well as legislation in the works. We also profile an artist whose work reflects democratic values.
ACTION ITEM
Act Now! For the People
Back in April we told you about the For the People Act, a bill in Congress that would strengthen voting rights for all Americans. Since then, even more states have passed voter suppression bills that will make it harder for Americans—especially BIPOC Americans—to vote. Many are calling this wave of anti-voter laws “Jim Crow 2.”
The For the People Act would overturn many of these voter suppression laws while also making our voting systems more secure. It would reduce corruption by making politicians tell us where all their money comes from. (For details, read the Brennan Center’s deep analysis.)
Congress is expected to vote on the For the People Act very soon (perhaps within days), so it’s time right now for you to tell your Senators what you think. It will take less than 15 minutes.
Then take it to the next level! Get a group of friends together on zoom or in real life to make your calls. No matter where you live, your Senators need to hear from you today.
LEGISLATION YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
Ending qualified immunity
“Qualified immunity” is a legal concept that protects police from being held personally liable for violating a person’s civil rights. While in theory it’s meant to protect police who often have to make “split-second” decisions in dangerous situations, in reality it acts as a barrier to accountability and justice for victims of police violence.
The concept first appeared in 1871 as a way of protecting federal government employees fighting Ku Klux Klan violence in the wake of the Civil War. It was intended to prevent nuisance and other lawsuits against individuals who were simply doing their job.
Qualified immunity became judicial doctrine in the 1960s, when it began to be used to shield police officers from being held personally liable if they could say that they “acted in good faith" and could claim that they had "probable cause." Even in cases in which it is proven that a police officer violated a person’s civil rights, qualified immunity protects officers from being held to account. Even when police act recklessly or intentionally do harm, qualified immunity protects them from being held personally responsible for their actions.
Since the 1980s, the Supreme Court has strengthened this protection so much that many experts say it is nearly impossible to hold police officers accountable for misconduct and breaking the law.
(Like the technical details? Read more about qualified immunity at Cornell Law School, Congressional Research Service, and Lawfare.)
Qualified immunity is unpopular with Americans and opposed by people at all points on the political spectrum. The American Bar Association has described it as illogical, unjust, and fundamentally unlawful. The ACLU calls it a “get out of jail free” card. The conservative Cato Institute describes it as a “legal, practical and moral failure.” The Law Enforcement Action Partnership, made up of police, prosecutors, judges, corrections officials, and other law enforcement officials, wrote an open letter to Congress urging an end to qualified immunity.
Two bills have been introduced in Congress: the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act includes a provision for ending qualified immunity, and the Ending Qualified Immunity Act would eliminate it at the state and local level. But states aren’t waiting for the federal government to act. At least 25 states are considering legislation to reform or eliminate qualified immunity. Colorado, New Mexico, Connecticut, and Massachusetts have already passed some kind of limitation on its use.
What is your state legislature doing to address qualified immunity?
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ANOTHER ARTIST FOR DEMOCRACY
Fabian Debora
“Paint what you see, what you feel, and the rest will fall in place.”
For painter and muralist Fabian Debora, democracy should come from the same place art should: community. His work is filled with images, concepts, and colors drawn from the people he grew up with, lives with, and works with every day.
“For me, democracy is being able to stand in your truth and speak truth to power, to create betterment for our people.” It is about, “speaking on behalf of those who’ve been denied and disenfranchised.”
The child of immigrants from Mexico, Debora grew up in Boyle Heights, an unincorporated community east of the LA River that has been home to waves of immigrants and is today nearly 95 percent Latinx. While incomes are low and poverty is high compared to the rest of Los Angeles, Boyle Heights is rich with history and arts, the streets alive with small businesses and community life.
As Debora puts it, “You say it’s a gang-infested area. I say there’s culture there.”
While his talent for drawing was recognized early, Debora fell in with local gangs and addiction. He spent time in and out of youth detention and jail. It was Father Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, who intervened with a probation officer and set up an apprenticeship with Wayne Healy and David Botello, two artists who had emerged from the Chicano mural movement to create the acclaimed East Los Streetscrapers.
In all these people taking a chance on a young man with no direction, Debora sees democracy in action. “When we really invest in folks and not throw them away, that’s what democracy is.”
When politicians scapegoat immigrants and poor people, Debora says, they inflict pain and do very real harm, such as that which he himself experienced growing up. It creates confusion and trauma, even a loss of identity, when government policies deny rights to certain individuals because of where they were born or the color of their skin. Those policies, he says, are unfair and undemocratic.
He offers a better alternative: “The more we invest in people and see them as human, the better our country will be.”
Debora wants people in the community to walk past his murals and see themselves and their stories, and to be uplifted. “I always paint real people in my murals. It’s not just about the art, but about the people in the community.” He identifies individuals in the community and learns their stories before painting them.
“Don’t be afraid to tell your truth,” his mentors urged him, and he now passes this message on to others.
To build a better democracy, Debora says we need more leaders and politicians who come from the community. We also need allies in the administration who will listen to the people and bring their stories and experiences into government. Debora himself has taken up the mantle of leadership, visiting with elected officials in Washington, DC. His has been a lifetime of personal transformation, and he now strives to model what change can look like.
“I need to bring the next homeboy or homegirl into leadership. That is democracy, too.”
Learn more about Fabian Debora and his work at fabiandebora.com. You can also watch the short documentary Fabian Debora: A Life for Art and read about the artist at KCET Artbound.
Thanks for reading the Artists 4 Democracy Newsletter. Artists 4 Democracy promotes democratic and civic engagement by mobilizing artists to get involved in political action. Through voter registration drives, fundraisers, and events, we seek to foster and protect our participatory democracy. In 2021, we’re focused on building a better American democracy, one centered on racial, social, and environmental justice.