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When it comes to racial injustice, Cruz notes people of color, specifically Black folks, do not have the luxury or ability to ignore racism, as it is part of their lived experience. Focused on the differences in socialization for Black and Brown children compared to children with privilege, Cruz emphasizes that Black and Brown children have been taught from an early age how to act around police, talk to people in affluent areas and apologize for any perceived disruptions in order to stay safe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cruz suggests that if Black and Brown parents have to sit their child down to have a conversation about racism and the ways that they may be targeted, then affluent white parents and children must regard the privileges that they hold. Cruz\u2019s march commemorating the Black Lives Matter movement centers children, specifically on the first day of D\u00eda de los Muertos, D\u00eda de los Inocentes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Drawing from her experience as a therapist and mother of biracial children, Cruz believes that children are not too young or innocent to engage in these discussions, especially because children of color, especially Black youth, have to be aware from a much younger age of the unjust realities of racism and systemic oppression. As well as a mental health professional, Cruz has plans to continually interact with the participants, checking in beforehand to discuss their expectations as well as regrouping after, to see how the march was like for them as participants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t just say Black Lives Matter, Defund the Police and more if you don\u2019t understand who it really affects, if you don\u2019t have those conversations with your friends, your neighbor,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m hoping from this generation of privileged children. They can have those conversations with their friends or their parents and it\u2019s not taboo and something that they do not feel taboo or guilty about…Children are resilient and can handle conversations that are around race and privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cruz hopes that the viewer’s main takeaway from this experience is the confrontation of discomfort. While people could feel uncomfortable with children holding these signs, Cruz regards, they should be impassioned to end the systems and practices that force Black and Brown children to be aware from a young age that they could be killed for the color of their skin. There is luxury in being shielded from the realities of police brutality and racial injustice in the United States, and children of color do not have that. As Cruz works as a therapist in conjunction with being an artist, she hopes that her installation will have lasting, intergenerational effects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cIt trickles down to our children,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cThey say that it takes five generations to heal. Part of the healing is going on these marches, speaking out and speaking up. I understand and know that I speak about Black Lives Matter because I think that unless that shifts, no one\u2019s lives will matter. It is important for all of us to feel seen and recognized. That for me is the driving force, for our Black brothers and sisters, African American brothers and sisters to be seen and recognized.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the last 12 years, Alicia Cruz\u2019s D\u00eda de los Muertos installations at SOMArts have highlighted topics such as border rejection, intergenerational trauma and familial separation. With her background as a therapist, Cruz creates interactive art through the lens of mental health, prioritizing and spotlighting personal, familial and communal healing. This year however, with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":46076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"coauthors":[18445],"class_list":["post-46074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n