Justin Arena
CAS 100

Living Flag: Panhandling for Reparations
Damali Ayo, an emerging speaker, author, and artist has dedicated her life to bettering society in issues especially tied to race and ethnicity. Her form of “Now Art” is not of a conventional style; rather it is one that generates conversation and dialogue regarding many of the worlds troubling social issues. In one of her famous pieces called “Living Flag: Panhandling for Reparations,” Ayo sits on the street corners of New York City and Portland and begs for slavery reparations. In essence, she is taking money straight from the wallets of white citizens and delivering it into the hands of black citizens as the pass by on the street. While Ayo believes her actions are completely reasonable, many of the public reactions show otherwise.
Dressed like a homeless street bum equipped with a tin can labeled “reparations” with an American flag on it and a sign that says “reparations accepted HERE,” Damali Ayo is on a mission to disrupt society and raise questions and discussion about slavery. Around her neck is a sign that reads “200 years of slavery,” which is the only hint she gives for what the reparations are for. As she sits on the street corner jingling her can, people of all ethnic backgrounds pass by. She doesn’t simply just ask for the reparations or just blatantly give black people the money; she tells the white people what their money is for and she tells the black people why they are receiving the money. While most ignore, some stick around to either give money or talk. However, the longer she sits on the corner, the public becomes aware that the only money she is accepting is from the hands of white people. As black passersby are offered money, the reactions are quite mixed as some find it ever odd while others question Ayo’s morals and even refuse to accept their “owed reparations.” From the African Americans that chose to take the money Ayo gave them, their reactions consisted of questions such as “what is the catch?” or “is this for real?” or responses such as “It wouldn’t be bad to get some money, I think they owe us.” One young lady refused to take the money even after Ayo insisted many times. Her only responses were “no thanks, I don’t need money for reparations” and “white people actually gave you their money?” Her reaction revealed that there is a percentage of the population that thinks what Ayo is doing is not ethically just. The white response on the other hand seemed to invoke more frustration rather than warm feelings for the opposite race. One older man commented on Ayo’s arrogance about the situation by saying “You are all over the place.” Indeed, Ayo’s experiment is not as clear cut as she makes it out to be
Despite oddness of her project, her approach is quite clever in that she enters the public through their own domain. By acting as a panhandler she is actually present on the street and is able to actively engage in conversation that is controversial. Also, her methods created an environment where the content and feedback she was looking for was immediate and qualitative. Miwon Kwon, author of One Place After Another comments on Ayo’s decision to participate amongst her audience by saying, “proponents of new public art of new genre public art explicitly position themselves in opposition to such exclusionary tendencies” (Kwon, 115). If Ayo decided to go about her project in a professional way by acting from an office and staying distanced from the public, her feedback would have been much harder to receive and it would mostly likely have been misleading. Since the people weren’t aware they were being filmed or know that bum they were talking to was actually an acclaimed artist, Ayo was affectively able to capture the public’s true reactions and feelings toward the issue.
Her audience is broad in that she wishes to incorporate as many people as possible into her project. As evidence she has created the “National Day for Panhandling for Reparations.” It is an annual craze that has been happening ever since she first did her experiment in 2003. Her hope is to have as many people around the country as possible go out and occupy a street corner in a major city and do as she did four years ago. While Ayo tries to get her voice heard on a national scale her audience regarding a prominent issue such as slavery is narrowed to only black and white people. In the video, the only people she talks to are black and white people and in interviews about her project she only mentions slavery as white vs black. By doing this some argue that she stereotypes all white people as historic slave owners and identifies all black people with an ancestral past of bondage. In addition, from the video it seems that Ayo treats the white people as if they were pawns in her experiment only existing to donate their money. Whenever a white person asks about her project she gives answers mainly regarding money as opposed to when black people are present she is much more hospitable and engages in conversation about her intentions for her project.
Despite bewilderment from many people regarding “Living Flag; Panhandling for Reparations,” Ayo believes that her intentions for the project as not so convoluted. According to Ayo, she intends to bring a “grassroots element to the already present academic and legislative conversation” (Wiretap). In essence, she is trying to generate more dialogue and emotion about a topic from the viewpoints of the general public. By handing out reparations she is not necessarily trying to help black people recover from years of slavery, but rather raise awareness about the issue and expose the reactions of the American public to the American public. Ayo comments on her project by saying, "As an artist, my job is to get the conversation flowing ... I don't write the policy, I leave that to the experts.”
One problem with her message is that it she is leaving out 12.5% of the population that is neither white or black (Census 2006). There are still many other ethnic backgrounds such as Asians, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, and Natives that could possess racist qualities. At the peak of immigration in our country it seems pretty small-minded to only include blacks and whites in a national movement for slavery awareness.