Guest Column

 Silencing every voice with which we disagree is profoundly un-American.

May 12, 2005

Artist Statement: Silencing every voice with which we disagree is profoundly un-American.

By Judith F. Baca

An anti-illegal immigrant group SaveOurState of Ventura County emboldened by their recent victory at the removal of a billboard referring to Los Angeles, Mexico is now demanding the removal of a twelve-year-old monument in Baldwin Park entitled Danzas Indigenous. I was commissioned to produce this work in 1993 by MTA and the City of Baldwin Park as collaboration with Kate Diamond architectural group.

The monument consists of a 20 ft arch, 100 ft plaza and 400 ft train platform. Produced with extensive public input the monument includes five languages: English, Spanish, Gabrielino, Chumash, Luisueno and is a layering of indigenous, Spanish, mestizo history, which is associated with this site.

Included also are the contemporary voices and diversity that is indicative of contemporary Baldwin Park. Asked to produce a work that was “mission in theme” that reflected the majority population of Latinos in the City of Baldwin Park and in keeping with my practice as an artist for inclusion of community members in my design process, I designed this work to include the past and present of the region and the voices of local residents. Of particular interest to me was the sites proximity to the mission of San Gabriel. The arch in the Plaza is conceived of as a fragment of a mission arch. Its intention is to become a site of public memory for the people of Baldwin Park. Our intention was to make visible the invisible history of the people.

Local residents sentiments were included in the present side of the monument with verbatim quotes sandblasted into the surface of the arch. Local residents of all ages and ethnic groups were recommended by the arts committee and the city council and interviewed. They were asked about their hopes for the future of Baldwin Park. Additional statements from community members on the arch which are not included in the discussion of the monument by the SaveOurState group include “Use your brain before you make up your mind”, “not just adults leading but youth leading too", “a small town feeling”, "when the Indians died the villages ended” and “a kind of community we all dream of white, brown, yellow all living together” all represent the community’s desires and are featured prominently in the work of art.

This is not a question only of my rights as an artist to not have my copyright violated but also a question of “revisionist history” carried out twelve years after an extensive democratic public process produced this work. What is most deserving of respect are the voices that are represented in the monument. Also deserving of respect, are the voices of the ancient indigenous who say in first person “memory and will power is how we retain our knowledge of our culture".

 The work is not a work of a lone artist working without relationship to the community but rather a representation of community sensibility and sentiment of the time.  While this group has cast this artwork as part of a Reconquista movement it is in fact neither advocating for the return of California to the Mexican government nor saying “it is better before they came”. This statement was made by a white local Baldwin Park resident who was speaking about Mexicans. The ambiguity of the statement was the point.  About which “they” is the anonymous voice speaking?

Our capacity as a democracy to disagree and to coexist is precisely the point of this work. No single statement can be seen without the whole, nor can it be removed without destroying the diversity of Baldwin Park’s voice. Silencing every voice with which we disagree is profoundly un-American.

________________________________________________________

Link article, pictures and further information on the issue:

http://www.sparcmurals.org/sparcone/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=209&Itemid=124

 (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed by HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com) without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)