Right to Bear Arms

As part of its Open Spectrum series, New York Live Arts is hosting a discussion on creating safety in an age of aggression. Curated by Brian Tate and presented as part of For Freedoms’ 50 State Initiative.

Curatorial Statement  

The recent deaths of Nia Wilson and Botham Jean, both victims of unprovoked violence, are unalike in some ways: she was killed on a subway platform, felled because of a drifter’s “mental derangement;” he was gunned down in his apartment by a police officer who “made a mistake.” In both instances, officials have characterized their deaths as tragic yet unforeseen, almost spontaneous in nature. But at a time of angry political rhetoric aimed at the vulnerable, and a corresponding spike in bias cases and hate crimes, are such attacks truly random? What routes to self-protection exist for people who are painted as the Other?

Mainstream aggressors are often allowed to skirt the cost of their actions, while those on the margins who act to protect themselves are met with the full weight of the law. What does it mean to America when the use of force by marginalized people is called an ideological threat, while violence that consistently targets people who are different is dismissed as justified, arbitrary, or “not hate-related?” Does the right to bear arms come with a responsibility to defend ourselves – and is physical combat or the use of firearms a sustainable response to the dangers facing us today? How do we create safety in an age of aggression?

Join us for an Open Spectrum conversation on these issues with photojournalist Amr Alfiky, organizer/journalist/ author asha bandele, journalist Kali Holloway, and Loren Miller, Executive Director, Center for Anti-Violence Education (CAE). Moderated by artist-activist Shaun Leonardo.

Additional Links

Amr Alfiky: Owning a Gun While Muslim
asha bandele: When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir 
Kali Holloway: 6 gun groups that aren’t for white right-wingers
Loren Miller: Center for Anti-Violence Education
Shaun Leonardo: Can an Artist Shift the Gun Debate?