An African American quilter confronts racism amid COVID-19

When everything happened in Minneapolis, the hurt for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people of color came to the surface. And we started making these quilts. And I started remembering so many things, so many things that had gone on in my life. I have so much rage in me that, I am going to do more and more quilts around injustices in these United States. I like that, I like that. We have such a wonderful way of showing injustices. Through the needle and through the cloth, we continue to tell our story. We will never stop telling our stories. So we've got the darkness there. Then comes the fear she has with the blood. And that's the red. When I was growing up in North Carolina, South Carolina, every Sunday, there was a gathering of women around food, around lots of love and quilting. They talk about the woman down the road who had a fire, and she needed a quilt for her children. Or someone was having problems with cracks in their wall. They did quilts to help people. They were giving back to our community. I have made close to 2,000. For the direct service people and the health care people, many many I gave away free. Collectively, the Women of Color Quilters Network have made close to 20,000. We're going to put a ray of sunshine around her. We've got to have hope. I think that's it. I think that's it. Wow! Yes, we need some coloring. Go like that. Piecing together fabrics from around the world and making it like a riff in jazz. It has movement, it has rhythm. That's what we did in the morning. I sat up all night drawing, trying to capture that face. She was talking about the Proud Boys. And so she got close to me and she said, "Girl, I'm afraid to go to the polls. Because they're gonna kill us. Girl, don't you know they're gonna kill us? Everything seemed to be just darkness around her. This is a woman that I know has worked hard all of her life taking care of people. And I felt as though, in honoring her, I had to do a mask that had royal cloth on it. Because for me, she's a queen. Injustice is all around us. It is real, it is happening, and it has to stop. I am on a mission to do as many political quilts as possible, until all these injustices stop.

Channel: The Christian Science Monitor

Views: 5,244

Rating: 4.9583335 out of 5

Keywords: #quilts, #African American quilts, #Black Lives Matter, #quilters, #George Floyd, #quilting, #art, #BLM, #BlackLivesMatter, #racism #fabrics, #quilt art, #Minneapolis, #Ed Johnetta Miller, #masks, #face masks

Id: JWuAFQ-tqpI

Length: 5min 22sec (322 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 17 2020

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Show Notes:

For centuries, Black women have been making quilts not only to keep warm, but also tell their stories. African American quilts have been a part of racial justice movements throughout U.S. history, and today, the art is drawing new attention following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In this video, we profile Ed Johnetta Miller, a world-renowned quilter whose work has taken a new turn as the country wrestles with multiple crises.