Debaser stands in solidarity with the Black community and all those working to dismantle white supremacy across Turtle Island. As the founder and creative director of an organization that directly benefits from an art form largely derived from Black culture, I realize that I have the responsibility to actively oppose the forces that threaten the Black community.
Since the recent tragic murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Chantel Moore, I have been largely focused on my own individual actions in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. However, while simultaneously pursuing justice as an individual, I recognize the importance of using Debaser’s platform to show solidarity, advocate for change, and support the Black community.
Debaser has partnered with the City of Ottawa and has received city funding to deliver arts programming. We are proudly committed to prioritizing BIPOC artists in our programming, and strive to foster and maintain inclusive and safer spaces where our programming takes place. I recognize the dire need to extend this work beyond the spaces that we program, and to use our good standing with the city to advocate for the reallocation of resources away from the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) and towards community-based safety initiatives.
In my role as the director of this organization, I have been writing messages to the mayor and city councillors of Ottawa, urging them to defund the OPS and invest in different models for safety and care. I have also been ongoingly expanding our safer spaces policy, in which we recognize the role of the police as a racist and oppressive state apparatus and state our commitment to avoid contact with law enforcement; I will do research and expand this aspect of the policy to lay out procedures and guidelines on how our team can safely put it into practice. Our board of directors is made up of a ¾ majority of white women at this time. We are currently engaged in a board recruitment process, as well as finalizing a diversity and inclusion policy which will determine this process, and commit to prioritizing BIWOC candidates for appointment to Debaser leadership positions. Finally, while our programming policy prioritizes BIPOC artists along with 2SLGBTQIA artists, disabled artists, and women, at the end of last year we did an internal assessment of our programming and realized only 20% of our headlining artists in 2019 were BIPOC. We have since committed to increasing representation of BIPOC headliners, and ensuring that artist fees for BIPOC artists are commensurate with those offered to white artists.
I recognize my role as a gatekeeper, and that my duty extends beyond prioritizing BIPOC artists in our presentations. I must also actively practice allyship and engage in anti-racist work. I urge fellow non-Black community members to do the same.
If you have the means, there are a number of Black and anti-racist organizations you can donate to listed here.
I also encourage you to support Black-owned local businesses, many are listed here.
If you are an Ottawa resident, you can write to elected officials to demand the defunding of the OPS. Here is a template and list of contacts.
And this is a great resource from MPD150 about building a police-free future:
To learn more about the appropriation of Black culture in American popular music, I recommend this podcast from the series ‘1619’ which examines the legacy of slavery in America:
Sincerely,
Rachel Weldon
Director, Debaser