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Confronting racism through art education
The children who come to Patchwork Central’s after-school and summer programs for art education represent a wide variety of backgrounds. The labels are easy: Black. White. Rich. Poor. Disabled. It’s not so easy to teach these children that labels say nothing about what is inside a person.“There is a great disease of underlying racism and class-ism in American society that is manifested in the lives of the kids we work with,” John Eads said. With his wife, Leah Bonham Eads, he is in his second year ministering at Patchwork Central in Evansville, Ind., through Mennonite Voluntary Service, a program of Mennonite Mission Network. Patchwork Central offers something other after-school and summer programs don’t: real, hands-on art. Children engage in a variety of artistic endeavors, some that take weeks to complete. They throw pottery on a wheel, learn to sew, use a printing press or weld old bicycle parts to build a new bike. Others learn to dance, grow vegetables and bake bread in brick ovens.
“It is in crossing social boundaries of rich and poor, black and white, that we join God’s redemptive plan for humanity,” Leah Eads said. Patchwork Central staff works to help children cross these boundaries by studying the art of other cultures throughout the year. Creating art in the style of the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday, sampling a Japanese tea ceremony and hosting a Jewish Passover Seder expose children to cultures that are different but celebrated with joy. Yet for many of these children, discriminatory language still comes easily. John Eads said calling others “mean” because of their skin color usually signifies children are “looking for a way to express their dislike of the rules,” and racial stereotypes slide glibly off their tongues in imitation of the adults in their lives outside Patchwork Central. Unfortunately, Eads notes, most of the volunteers at the program are white and come from middle-income families. While people of that background are effective and needed here, Eads wishes for a more diverse pool of role models for the children to reinforce what Patchwork Central strives to teach. “To not be more integrated as a society and to not teach love and acceptance of other races and cultures… is a sad injustice to the next generation,” he said. At a place like Patchwork Central, children move out of a personal comfort zone, which helps bring underlying misassumptions about others to the surface where, he said, “they can be openly and honestly dealt with.” Children also find ways to deal honestly with emotional pain through Patchwork Central’s art programs. One young boy who comes to the after-school sessions has struggled with serious emotional upheavals caused by medication for seizures. School is difficult for him, but at Patchwork Central this talented young artist found “a place where he was accepted and could do things he enjoyed,” Leah Eads said. “Art is an indirect way to explore and work through difficult experiences,” she said. This healthy way of expressing their feelings is essential to development. Creative and performing arts require a unique kind of focus, perseverance and self-discipline that teach children important lessons they’ll take with them in life. While it’s often difficult to tell how much a transient child has taken with them from the program, whether a changed attitude or a healed heart, there are stories of hope. A family of three sisters has attended Patchwork Central for close to 10 years. Despite learning disabilities and emotional instability at home, these three have found healing through art and, now in high school, continue volunteering regularly. “It’s through the mentoring of the staff here over the years that they have become beautiful women, inside and out,” Leah Eads said. She has a hard time imagining doing all this without the commitment to service and love for others Also in this issue: Features Highlights Highlights |
