America’s Shadow by Simran Gleason
The brightest lights cast the deepest shadow, and the high ideals set in The Declaration of Independence are no exception.
Editor's note:
Due to a distinct lack of freedom and justice for all, the American dream is just that—a wistful hope far from reality. This series of oil paintings by Simran Gleason was painted in response to the 2020 protests. Introspective and intense, these works capture real images and events from Portland Oregon, bookended by a panoramic masterpiece of American history.
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America's Shadow
America! It's a Beacon of Shining Light — Democracy, Freedom — Home of the Brave — and so on!
At least, that's how we like to see ourselves. This is the myth we are building in the world.
Freedom and Equality for all.
America the Beautiful!
The United States, however, is a different story.
The brightest lights cast the deepest shadow, and the high ideals set in The Declaration of Independence are no exception. While mythical America shines, the actual nation was built on slavery. Today's economic strength rests on yesterday's industrial strength, which erected its august columns on the foundation of our robust agrarian economy, which is laid on the ground of slavery -- stolen labor, stolen lives, and generations of oppression. While slavery itself is no longer legal, the underlying racism and oppression is still with us, transformed.
We will not be able to heal our divisions and begin to realize the high ideals this country was nominally founded on without a long, hard, and painful look at our shadow. What were the actual building blocks of our society? How did it transform through our history? How is it still present today? If we remain in denial, we will keep perpetuating the culture and attitudes that create and maintain oppression. Until we admit to ourselves how we actually built this nation, and take a look at the real cost of our prosperity we will remain divided at a deep subconscious level even if we pay lip service to equality and civil rights.
Locating my own shadow is an important first step. What privileged platform am I speaking from? Personal perspective will always have an unconscious centering on one's own privilege. How can I presume to speak for America? Many Americans directly experience life in the umbra of shadow. I've found myself analyzing things from the point of view of the shadow-caster, one born into privilege. Often a privilege centered perspective speaks to uphold the virtues of the system that benefits the privileged.
This body of work, then, is an interrogation of that privileged point of view, an admonition to look at the shadow cast from that position, and is a plea to recognize what we are really doing.
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Breach of Contract
The modern policing and carceral system evolved directly from the bands of slave catchers tasked with returning runaway "property" to their rich white owners. That is its root and origin. In the current cultural mythos, policing is "shiny". They take care of us, make our neighborhoods safe. They uphold the social contract. These notions only turn out true for the privileged class.
This is a "breach" of the Social Contract. This officer runs out from the line into the retreating protestors, singles out one person (a medic), tackles him with a flying throw, and proceeds to pound him.
This kind of excessive force should also be a breach of the labor contract the city has with the police union. How can we renegotiate that contract so that this kind of excessive force is construed as a breach of the contract and has actual financial consequences? What kind of pressure do we need to make this happen?
In the end, the almighty police union contract is the only thing they listen to, and has been their source of power over the city councils and mayors for decades. Straightforward "negotiation" isn't going to get us the kind of contract we need.
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America's Caste System
America has a caste system. We won't admit it. Individually, anecdotally, any one of us can get lucky and rise above our circumstances. Statistically we cannot.
There are too many systems in place to keep the castes separate. Individuals can cross the barrier, and we have built the myth of the American Dream on those few instances. Yet the barriers remain...
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If Voting Could Change Anything
Prior to the 2020 election, an effort to cripple voting rights occurred, including restrictions on mail in voting. In Portland, many mailboxes were removed entirely.
Voter suppression continues to worsen following the results of the election.
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Never More Divided?
"We've never been more divided as a nation." This is a right-wing talking point we've seen come up lately. Especially as a reaction to exposed systemic racism:
"All of this division is hurting the country and only serves to push us further apart."
It does not take a very deep look at history to see the emptiness of this position. When you take into account who is speaking, who are the "we" who are being divided, it becomes clear. This is an stance that re-centers privilege as an erasure of the experience of those in the shadow.
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Patriot
During the Portland protests, a Black man raised a flag in the center of the street, facing down a wall of federal and local police. This image captured his defiance. Minutes afterwards, he was tackled, taken down, and handcuffed on the street.
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View more of Simran’s art, here.
Simran Gleason is a Portland artist and illustrator, mostly working in oil painting. His work has been all over the artistic map, from plein air landscapes to improv music for modern dance, and most recently doing album covers for local & national bands. His series of figurative works in fantasy and dystopian settings has oddly turned into documenting actual burgeoning dystopia in America. To paraphrase William Gibson: dystopia is here, just not evenly distributed.