AICA-USA members have continued to use its member's listserve to promote deep-seated racist beliefs and an environment hostile to critics of color. AICA-USA has proven unequipped to counteract this longstanding, institutionally-hosted racism.
AICA-USA's Board must hire an independent consultant to do a thorough study and lead the organization to develop an actively anti-racist environment for the benefit of its members and the art community-at-large.
Why is this important?
Art critics can serve as reproducers of racist ideology or as agents of change. As Ibram X. Kendi's work suggests, there can be no such thing as a nonracist art critic. There are only racist art critics or anti-racist art critics. Some of AICA-USA's membership has deployed racist, hateful speech masquerading as a legitimate debate about the role of race in the discipline. AICA-USA must stop using its infrastructure to give voice to this thinly veiled white supremacist hate speech. It is time for AICA-USA to reimagine itself as an agent for equality, equity, and anti-racist change.
