In discussing America’s place in human rights issues, we wondered how many Americans really know what the International Declaration of Human Rights entails. We should be teaching our students, and they in turn should teach it in their classrooms to raise consciousness about it. This is related to feeling threatened by that which one does not understand. We need to unpack that idea and help students realize that we all have the right to believe in what we believe as long as we are not hurting anyone.
The climate of the world has changed and there is more fear and feeling of being threatened. People fear terrorism, being attacked, spied on, caught on camera, and are aware of a greater police and security presence in their communities and around the world. Students seem more afraid to express their opinions and think critically about some issues than a couple decades ago. We need to help them get past this and catch them up in many ways.
One arts approach in response to increased security is the Surveillance Camera Players. They are a group in New York who perform silent plays to security cameras and the staff who are watching the surveillance. It is a method to talk back to power and face fear through the arts. It shows both the playfulness and the power of the arts to make a strong statement.
