Usually, the thought of the KKK coming to town is enough to, at the very least, raise an eyebrow or two. But not this time. The KKK is here and I am happy to see them.
And before you freak out, I am not talking about the Ku Klux Klan. I am talking about “Kin Killin Kin” which went on display at the Marion County Central Library and runs through the end of September.
This is an exhibit that is going to stir a lot of controversy and more importantly, a lot of thought. It depicts images of young Black men dressed in pseudo Klan attire killing other Black men. The work was done by James Pate of Ohio.
The collective series of charcoal sketches as well as other pieces, such as the body tags with the names of homicide victims, tell the story of urban youth violence and the fact that more African-American males are more likely to be killed by other Black males than anyone else.
Here in Indianapolis where Blacks make up about 27 percent of the population, for the first half of this year Blacks have made up approximately 70 percent of the murder victims and in cases where the racial identity of both the victim and suspect were known. Blacks killing other Blacks were at least a third of the murders.
But it’s not just an Indy thing. It could be any major urban center. The image of the Klan brings strong emotions and outrage in the Black community as it should. It’s been reported there were more than 4,700 lynchings between 1882 and 1968. However, the U.S. Department of Justice reports more than 4,400 Blacks between the ages of 15 and 34 were killed by other Blacks and that figure is from 2000.
As my wife once told me “who needs the Klan to kill us when we have each other?”
Pate’s images make that same point, however as an artist he goes further in what is described as a “visual call-to-action to find solutions to youth and gun violence in the community, create hopes of engaging our youth and community in acknowledging that harsh reality of gun violence, and to dialogue positive alternatives and solutions toward negative behavior.”
The piece that stuck out at me the most was one entitled “Your History III.” It shows two Black youth in Klan garb, but the close up is an African head sculpture being shot and in the backdrop, water hoses being turned on protesters. The piece represents the torrid past Blacks have faced and youth who are throwing it away by killing each other.
And for the record, the exhibit is not all gloom and doom. In the end there is hope. The final piece is called “Turn of Endearment” and it shows young brothers who are casting aside a culture of violence and embracing a heritage of hope and opportunity.
As I made my way through the exhibit this past week, I interviewed some Indianapolis Public School students from Crispus Attucks. The message was not lost on them by any stretch. What was even better was that these future engineers, doctors and technicians were all going to encourage their friends and families to come see the exhibit in hopes that it would help them see that they are on a self-destructive path and hopefully that will help them turn things around.
“Kin Killin Kin” is an exhibit everyone should see. It does what art is supposed to do. It shocks the conscious and stirs debate and discussion. And when it comes to Black-on-Black crime in Indianapolis this year, we could definitely use a little of both.
Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is an attorney, political commentator and publisher of IndyPolitics.org. You can email comments to him at abdul@indypolitics.org.
