It's All Business
I had learned - never mix business with pleasure
Welcome to this series of articles where I explore how I, as a white person, learn about racism and my own blind spots regarding my own racism and prejudice. If you like this weekly newsletter, why not subscribe? I would really appreciate it. You can click the little purple button below to join. And of course, the unsubscribe button is below if you decide this isn't for you.
I have been in business for myself for a couple of decades now. Over the years, I have been careful about keeping my business world and my personal life completely separate. Particularly while running a corporation, with quite a few people depending on the business to provide a livelihood, I kept a public presence and a personal existence.
Everything was duplicated, phone numbers, email addresses, facebook pages, you name it; I had at least two of each.
Now that I am a solopreneur again, I have loosened the dividers between personal and professional. I am more comfortable now being more open about my work and sharing the "whole me" with whoever cares to listen. Before, I never wanted to get into a situation where my personal activities influenced my customer's buying decisions. It is more okay now because, while I still want to have customers, it's not a whole company that will suffer if I don't make the sale; it's just me.
My current solopreneur gig is as a photographer. No, not bar mitzvahs or weddings type photographer. While those are a good way for a photographer to earn a living, I chose to make fine art photos - you know, the kind you see in restaurants and other public spaces. Because of that, I am part of a facebook group just for artists. It's a safe space that is well monitored and has a positive vibe. A lot of the conversations revolve around an artist posting a photo or painting and asking for feedback. It's a great way to be lifted up by other artists making positive comments. "Constructive criticism" comments are added here and there, but usually nothing over the top.
A very talented and creative artist posted a painting in the facebook group and asked, "what do you think?" There were about a dozen comments like "beautiful" and "amazing colors." There was one comment that stopped me, something like, "You do realize that "I can't' breathe" were the last words by several black men as they were being killed by the police?" The painting is of a young white woman wearing a face mask with the text "I can't breathe" next to her. The painting is literally titled Can't Breathe.
This seems like a political statement to me. The anti-maskers and the blue lives matter crowd working to right some perceived injustice over masks. That was my perception, though. I had no way of knowing if her intent was to send a political message or maybe she is just tone-deaf. I couldn't just let it go and move on; after all, I am the one who took on the challenge of helping other white people understand their racism. So I complimented her art. She really is very good and has a strong niche. And commented. "As it turns out, you may want to consider the statement this painting makes." A little weak on my part, perhaps, but I wanted to raise awareness, not start a conflict.
She didn't respond to any of the comments, mine or anyone else's. The interaction did make me think about my own convictions, how much, or how little, I want to mix those convictions with my business. You can understand why this was even a question for me, based on my prior actions. This is my blind spot here: how keeping my personnel life (and opinions etc.) separate from my business was a way of protecting my (unearned) white privilege. Because I am white, and I am privileged, I have the option of staying quiet and not rocking the boat.
Before now, this wasn't even something I would consider. It seemed clear to me that business is business, and everything else I keep to myself. Once I stopped and thought about it, it was clear that keeping silent and leveraging my privilege was not true to my authentic self. More importantly, being silent is a disservice to all those who have no option but to show up as their authentic selves every day.
I had an internal dialog about offending my customers or getting into an endless on-line argument. These are empty reasons to be quiet and keep things to myself. It merely came down to the idea that if a customer is offended, I don't want them as a customer.
The lady who posted the "Can't Breathe" painting sent me a private message today. She asked how I liked the company we both use to sell our artwork and commented that she likes my photos. We had a polite conversation and never touched on her post that started all of this. I did check on the post thread just now, and she replied to the first comment about "I can't breathe" being the last words of several dying black men. Apparently, she is a bit tone-deaf and thinks of herself as a "lifelong anti-racist." She went on to say the painting is a social commentary on having to wear masks and on what happened in Minneapolis. It seems that she wants to be on the compassionate side of things here, but it's hard to tell where exactly she lands on the spectrum.
I hope that my comment and the other poster's comment nudged her understanding of racism a little closer to reality. Maybe, maybe not. I am grateful to her, though, for helping me find my own blind spot in the privilege I have. Staying quiet is an option because of the way I show up in the world. If I say nothing, it condones the actions of others.
So what did I miss? What else could I have done to raise this artist's awareness, if anything? Are there other blind spots here that I can't see? Please leave comments below or send me an email. I read all the comments, and I appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks for reading. I'm glad you are here.
p.s. The photo above is called Mindfulness Rocks, which I created. You can find it, more photos, and my other newsletter under Written Word over at www.martin-banks.com
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I too would have been taken aback by the skewed social commentary of the photo and I think I would have carried that mild resentment around with me for several hours... yet I am not sure I would have been as brave or as engaged to comment on it because lately I find blind spot "artistic" people to be wearing on my sense of seeking justice... So, consider that in this post you have made me sit back, reconsider my turning away as the easy way and that I will be commenting, albeit in a constructive manner, to the next "insensitive" I encounter... I especially liked your observation, "... being silent is a disservice to all those who have no option but to show up as their authentic selves every day." Thanks for once again making me think about making changes and being a bit more intentional in my bravery... instead of jaded.