Art is Democratic

The Arts are democratic. Art is inclusive; it brings people together. Art looks for truth. Art embraces diversity, and that’s why art is a threat. That’s why we are a threat.

— Robert De Niro, 2025 Cannes Film Festival

Art and creativity have meant so much to me; it has literally saved my life. As a near-completely immobile individual, creativity is my movement, and I don’t know what shell of a person I’d be without it. For me, expression is essential.

The arts, education, books, and ideas threatened into submission demand our immediate attention and sincere contemplation no matter who you voted for.

The administration has issued numerous executive orders (we know he’s great at signing his name) to attack, deplete, and destroy education and the arts. These orders target institutions like universities, public education, media, nonprofits, life-saving research, libraries, parks, and museums that don’t align with their ideological agenda or bow to the government’s control and censorship. In a recent move, the state has even proposed a budget that would eliminate the only agency dedicated to museums and library services (IMLS) in an attempt to control and shut down libraries.

For the first time, the state is exerting great control over the arts, requiring oversight of specific institutions. The Vice President and a Florida insurance lawyer have been tasked by the president to review and eliminate properties, programs, and presentations from universities, libraries, and museums that they perceive as unfit or incorrect.

Where is the freedom? People, institutions, and companies are so concerned that they are changing in production book titles and illustrations to avoid being filtered or removed in today’s climate. The film industry is in turmoil over the potential consequences of state influence. Shutting down departments and institutions under the guise of “security” or “cost-cutting,” or the President taking over the Kennedy Center and self-nominating himself to monitor and control the arts, is not freedom.

Additionally, funding for libraries, public broadcasting, research, and museums is a mere drop in the annual federal spending bucket of $6 trillion. Nearly 1 trillion of this is military-industrial complex spending. And yet the administration approves their spending bill that provides $4.5 trillion in tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy, adding trillions to the deficit, and cutting $880 billion in Medicaid to pay for it.

It’s never been about the deficit.

There has been a concerted federal effort to survey, erase, and rewrite history, including removing historical facts, people of color, and women from official sites. Museums like the Smithsonian National Museum of African History and the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) are being attacked and ordered to scrub things the government dislikes, remove artifacts, exhibits, and programs the administration deems incorrect or inappropriate, or face defunding, as seen in the Smithsonian’s recent coincidental “switching” of artifacts and postponing an LGBTQ exhibition that had been in preparation for a while after receiving the order.

While some institutions are yielding, museums like the Japanese American National Museum have refused to be silenced and will not compromise their principles. “JANM will not erase anything and will stand up for social justice. We are also committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said the JANM CEO.

The irony that the state is attempting to influence JANM, and America's stain of Japanese internment camps, is not lost on me. These camps were one of the greatest legal travesties in American history, where tens of thousands of innocent Japanese American citizens were forcibly imprisoned simply because of their Japanese heritage in 1942. The actions taken during this period were devoid of any trial or due process, relying on the Aliens Enemies Act of 1798 to incarcerate innocent individuals. This same Act is now being exploited by the current administration to “disappear”, remove, detain, and deport individuals to a foreign prison without any due process.

Furthermore, the administration’s explicit attempts to starve various agencies and social programs, making them inaccessible or inoperable, like they’re currently doing with Social Security by cutting phone lines so American citizens don’t have access, are designed to justify complete shutdowns (due to self-imposed destruction) or privatization. These include the National Library Association, which ensures the accessibility of libraries across the country, museums, and now, public media. A PBS Kids show that I have been working on for several years and recently launched (Skillsville) was just canceled because of this administration… because it incorporates “DEI” elements, such as featuring children of color and a disabled character, so its funding grant was removed.

The administration has expressed its ultimate desire to eliminate PBS and NPR. This is just the beginning.

History tells us critical and free-thinking are a threat to power. Cutting services and the arts isn’t protecting us from evil “DEI”, cost-cutting, or efficiency; it’s about inhabiting and maintaining control. Creativity and art throughout history have always challenged the times, and to try and control it says everything about the not-so-hidden motivations.

Art is a collective expression of thoughts and unique perspectives. It serves as a form of conversation, fostering nuanced understanding and connection within society. Art has the power to unify and transform, challenging ideas, times, and even serving as a historical mirror of morality to society. It is a form of storytelling that inherently reinforces democracy and questions authority.

Creative expression is accessible to everyone, regardless of class, race, or background. It’s for and by the people, enabling all voices to be heard and transcending cultural, social, and political boundaries. Through shared experiences and emotions, art connects people. Art challenges our assumptions and ignorance, forcing us to expand our horizons beyond our severely limited perspectives. Without freedom of ideas and creative expression, we can’t truly explore the vastness of humanity.

In the context of the government and the First Amendment (a first for a reason), freedom of speech is freedom of expression, and freedom of expression is freedom of speech. The state’s requirement for institutional oversight of creative expression undermines this fundamental principle.

Also, the game of “Whataboutism” has got to stop, because it (team partisan sports) is precisely why we have the system we have today. Wrong is wrong. Corrupt is corrupt. Authoritarianism is the quest for control specifically over those who dissent. We can still think the left doesn’t have its game or messaging together, or has issues with the revolving door and corruption, and still criticize what is happening right now.  Two truths can exist at the same time, and each individual, group, or institution should be scrutinized on its own record, alone. This kind of unprecedented government overreach, specifically from a party who claims to be about “less government”, should capture everybody’s worrisome. #KamWrites

For more ♿️ travels, art, mini-memoirs, and disability, accessibility & life musings: https://www.Instagram.com/kamredlawsk