We Can Be Heroes | Mike Wiley | TEDxRaleigh
A speaker argues that arts education provides essential belonging and agency, citing experiences like being the only Black child in a segregated class and later securing roles in theater as proof that the arts offer a vital space for marginalized communities. This sense of belonging is illustrated by the speakers' narrative shift from poverty and racial exclusion to finding self-expression through performance. The speaker concludes with a direct challenge to the audience to fight for the arts.
## Speakers & Context
- A speaker who draws on personal experience related to arts access and systemic exclusion.
- The speaker addresses an audience in a setting where arts are a central topic of conversation.
- The speaker notes that children are "born knowing" the value of the arts, unlike adults with "short term memories."
## Theses & Positions
- The arts provide a necessary "Neverland of lost hopes and gray dreams," a space for marginalized populations.
- Without access to the arts, life becomes a "color starved existence."
- The arts provide a place of belonging and identity, an "place for us."
- The arts serve as a positive counterforce to violence and systemic disenfranchisement, offering alternatives to guns.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Arts:** Encompasses various forms including comic strips, plays, scripts, film cameras, and painting.
- **Cycle of abuse:** The pattern of systemic hardship and violence that the speaker's family sought to break through physical relocation.
- **Belonging:** The core theme—the emotional and social affirmation of a place that accepts the individual, whether it's a community or a theatrical role.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Segregation & Exclusion:** Virginia's action in 1959 to close all public schools in Prince Edward County, rather than allow Black children to attend.
- **Racial/Social Mobility:** The necessity of busing African-American children to predominantly white schools by the late 1970s in the South.
- **Performance as Integration:** Being cast in school plays that required the speaker to portray specific roles, such as Abraham Lincoln, cementing a sense of place and purpose within a larger narrative.
- **Artistic Opportunity:** The speaker’s participation in auditions for plays like *Alice in Wonderland* and receiving roles like the Queen of Hearts.
## Timeline & Sequence
- **1959:** Prince Edward County, Virginia voted to close all public schools to prevent Black children from attending.
- **Late 1970s:** Period when 45% of all African-American children in the South were bused to predominantly white schools.
- **Third Grade:** Year the speaker recalled; Mrs. Dorothy Darling cast the class, assigning the speaker and a Vietnamese girl to represent Africa.
- **A few years after that:** The move to a four-room duplex, initiating the challenging emotional journey.
- **Later that evening:** The moment at Woolworth's where the tall woman confronted the speaker about belonging.
## Named Entities
- **Mrs. Dorothy Darling:** The speaker's third-grade teacher, described as a girl "raised in the south, a grit, a daughter of the Confederacy."
- **Colonel Andrew Jackson:** Great-granddaughter of Mrs. Darling.
- **Prince Edward County, Virginia:** Location that voted to close all schools in 1959.
- **Whalen:** A Vietnamese girl in the speaker's class who spoke very little English.
- **Andy Capp:** A working-class comic strip figure who struggled with employment.
- **Hugh:** The name used by the woman at Woolworth's when she questioned the speaker about lineage.
- **Mrs. Daisy:** The name given to the speaker by the woman at Woolworth's.
- **Hoke:** The name the woman at Woolworth's used for the speaker.
- **David Bowie:** Artist referenced for a song heard on the radio.
## Numbers & Data
- **16 million:** Estimate of poor and impoverished kids in the United States without access to the Arts.
- **25%:** Proportion of all children in North Carolina who are in this position.
- **45%:** Percentage of all African-American children in the South who were bused to white schools by the late 1970s.
- **75 cents:** Cost of a Sunday comic strip, which could have been used for basic necessities like milk or bread.
## Examples & Cases
- **The initial critique:** Imagining a world where shel Silverstein's open invitation is lost or stolen, resulting in a "color starved existence."
- **The Comic Strip Comparison:** The speaker preferred *Andy Capp* over *The Peanuts* or *Beetle Bailey*, finding it spoke to a raw, working-class reality.
- **The Christmas Pageant:** Mrs. Darling cast the white section as countries, then assigned the speaker and Whalen to be Africa.
- **The Fight/Violence:** Instances of family/neighbor arrests and school fights escalating to street shootouts, such as Claude shooting Melvin with a pistol.
- **The Audition:** Being a "skinny moon face black kid in a sea of punky Brewster's and Ricky Schroeder's" at an *Alice in Wonderland* audition.
- **The "Kappa gymatorium":** The cafeteria/gymnasium/auditorium where the speaker played Abraham Lincoln, proving a place for him when the North argued over slavery's economics.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Comic Strip:** Specifically *Andy Capp*.
- **Washington D.C. City Bus:** The method used to travel downtown for auditions.
- **Woolworths:** Location where the critical encounter with the "tall woman" occurred.
- **Apollo's/Broadway-style Theater/Performance Venue:** Used for the *Alice in Wonderland* and Abraham Lincoln portrayals.
## References Cited
- **Shel Silverstein:** Author whose "open invitation" is referenced.
- **Stephen Sondheim:** Whose work, *West Side Story*, is referenced in relation to the 16 million children.
- **David Bowie:** Artist whose song inspired the closing section.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The speaker acknowledged the difficulty in articulating the importance of the arts, calling it a feeling that "didn't really need to be defined."
- The initial artistic engagement was often limited by extreme poverty (e.g., couldn't afford the Sunday paper).
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- The arts are a powerful social equalizer that directs energy away from destructive behavior and toward creation ("taking folks off the streets and putting them on stage").
- The speaker issues a direct call to action: "are you ready to fight for the arts? are you ready to stand up for what you believe in? are you ready to throw down."
## Implications & Consequences
- Arts access is directly correlated with personal agency and the ability to "fit in" or belong within society.
- Art provides a mechanism to transform systemic trauma (poverty, racism, violence) into narrative power and community support.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"if you are a dreamer come in if you are a wisher a liar a hope or a prayer of magic being buyer"*
- *"This Neverland of lost hopes and gray dreams"*
- *"here is home for 16 million poor and impoverished kids in the United States without access to the Arts"*
- *"as Stephen Sondheim so aptly slipped into the score of West Side Story"*
- *"I was the lone black child in her class mmm shortly after integration"*
- *"Andy Capp... skepticism poured from her mouth like blackstrap molasses or the warm ray smoke from one of my grandmother's Benson & Hedges menthols"*
- *"What in my little poverty-stricken world could possibly give me an inkling of understanding the world of Andy Capp"*
- *"Michael you're gonna be Africa and whale"*
- *"where do I belong where do you fit in"*
- *"I said well sir the people of the North believed that there should not be any more slavery yet because of economics and selfish reasons the southern states wanted slavery to continue to help them raise crops and"*
- *"I'I won't be king and you you won't be queen but we can be heroes just for one day we can be artists"*
- *"are you ready to fight for the arts"*