Our Art Requires Freedom
By Tracy Hahn-Burkett | November 4, 2024 |
In 1979, I was a serious ballet student, growing up an hour’s drive from New York City. Devoted to this art, I took classes daily, studied ballet history, the French language (nearly all ballet terms are French), and watched the great dancers at every opportunity. To truly study ballet is to strive for perfection every day knowing you’ll never achieve it, but to love the art form so much that you dedicate yourself to the pursuit of that perfection anyway.
Several times each year, my mother would take me to Lincoln Center in the city to see the major ballet companies perform. I’d get to study the technique and artistry of the finest dancers in the world from the best seats in the theater we could afford. I’d watch the dancers achieve what I could only strive for, and I’d analyze their performances. Afterward, I’d walk to the car on NYC’s sparkling sidewalks, dazzled every time and eager to return to the studio the next day to practice what I’d learned. (I still don’t know what the city put in the concrete to create that glittery effect.)
One August evening that year, we settled into our seats at the New York State Theater to see the Bolshoi Ballet, then one of the top six ballet companies in the world. A day or two earlier, a young Bolshoi principal dancer named Alexander Godunov (whom you may remember as one of the terrorists in America’s most unlikely Christmas movie, Die Hard), had just defected from the company. His wife, also a dancer, had not defected with him, and the Bolshoi immediately put her on a plane to return to Moscow. But the U.S. wouldn’t let the plane leave until they were satisfied that she was returning of her own free will, and as we waited for the ballet to begin, that plane was still sitting on the tarmac. Incensed, the Soviets subjected us to a long political lecture prior to the performance.
As a pre-teen, I didn’t comprehend the finer points of that lecture, but I did understand defections by Soviet ballet dancers and why they happened. Earlier defections by iconic ballet stars Rudolf Nureyev, Natasha Makarova, and Mikhail Baryshnikov had taught me about Soviet artists who were exquisitely skilled but could no longer tolerate the restraints they suffered practicing their art in a society that wasn’t free. Baryshnikov emphasized the artistic versus the political nature of his defection:
“[M]y life is my art and I realized it would be a greater crime to destroy that. I want to work with some of the West’s great choreographers if they think I am worthy of their creations.”
These dancers were my childhood and adolescent heroes. Not only were they the best practitioners of the art I revered, but they taught me that we Americans possessed something of value that only came at great cost to many others: freedom. We were privileged, and other people were willing to sacrifice everything else they had—family, country, every possession they owned—just to access the freedoms we Americans took for granted as our birthright.
Decades later, we live in a different world and a different country. And far too many Americans have become complacent.
I know that many people—perhaps some of you reading these words now—think that fascism, even autocracy, cannot happen here. We are 248 years old, we are solidly established despite our flaws, we are American Exceptionalism. But while this nation is many great things, understand that one thing it is not is immune from history. Governments and nations fall after a time; this is the historical rule, not the exception. And so while 248 years is a long lifespan, there are no guarantees that our country will make it further than this.
The truth is that our democratic institutions are already crumbling. Witness a Supreme Court that has ignored one established principle of jurisprudence after another. Spot the retraction of fundamental rights in the forms of the court decision that wiped away 50 years of bodily autonomy for women and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act. Worst of all, notice how knowledge and objective truth must compete for relevance with rumor, conspiracy, and “alternative facts,” an Orwellian phrase if ever one existed.
Now, let’s talk about the writers, about writing, about how it’s already changing. Observe a press that seems to struggle to understand its responsibility to report the truth rather than to create false equivalencies. Add to that classic cases of anticipatory obedience, where corporate owners of three major newspapers in recent weeks suddenly declared they wouldn’t allow their editorial boards to endorse a candidate for president, even though in two of those cases, the boards had already written their endorsements.
And, of course, there’s the book-banning. The American Library Association reported that book-banning increased 92 percent in 2023 from the previous year, and preliminary data for 2024 aren’t looking any better. Yet, if the autocrats win, these statistics will look quaint. Extremist views at the base of these book bans will grow more prevalent and more consequential for writers. Do you think your work is apolitical? Your novel about a young woman wrestling with her life choices who decides to focus on her business career is a political statement. So is your book about the failing family farm, or your story collection about members of, well, any racial minority group targeted by white people where the minority characters overcome obstacles to succeed. Do you write about immigrants or LGBTQ+ characters or Jewish people or Palestinians or…? It’s a long list. Even fantasy novels set up political systems.
In an unfree society, it doesn’t matter how you view your work; it only matters how the people in power see it.
The fictions we write allow us to safely explore our emotional and societal truths. We know this because of the readers who empathize with our characters and their experiences, and we know it because of the people who feel so threatened by the stories we write that they increasingly try to keep other people from reading them. What else will those in power do to writers when they fulfill their leader’s promise of imprisoning and otherwise punishing people who disagree with them?
I’m not writing all of this to scare or depress you. I’m telling you this because I want you to understand, as writers, what we are facing tomorrow.
When I ultimately gave up ballet to go to college, this is what I studied: international and comparative systems and the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Later I worked in Congress and then after the fall of the Berlin Wall I worked in Czechoslovakia with newly minted parliamentarians, helping them learn about democracy. I heard the stories of repression from people who had lived it. I saw the scars that autocracy had left on them, on their reactions to everything in the world around them even as they embraced their new democracy with their whole hearts. I learned how hard it was for them to discard deep-seated mistrust of any government even as they desperately wanted to create something new, because the roots of repression and autocracy had kept them in a stranglehold for so long.
This is what autocracy does once it embeds itself in a country and a people. We have one last chance to make sure this does not happen in the United States.
My fellow writers, the word “democracy” looks like a noun, but it’s really a verb. I’ve written elsewhere that democracy isn’t really something we have; it’s something we do. If we want to keep this democracy, if we want to keep our freedom to write, to read, to express ourselves as artists, we must accept the responsibility as our own to support leaders who will uphold the values in our Constitution. We require leaders—at every level of government—who don’t view opponents as “the enemy within” and vow to imprison them, who won’t shut down news networks or censor media. Leaders who will tell the truth, and, perhaps even more importantly, allow us to tell the truth, via fiction and non-fiction. Leaders who don’t ban books, or people, or foment hate and violence. Leaders who attempt to unify. Leaders who fight for our rights.
Democracy is hard. It’s like art—we have to make it or it doesn’t exist. We have to practice it or it fades away, or is taken from us, first in an election, and then with action much more severe in nature.
What can you do at this late date? Vote for all offices on the ballot, and make sure those you know do, too. Look out for disinformation and correct it when and where possible. Know that our electoral process is secure and there is no widespread election fraud in this country. If you see an actual problem, report it to an election official. If you see voter intimidation at the polls, find an election official and report that, too.
Preserving our art, our freedom, our country—this is what tomorrow is about. The responsibility for our freedom rests upon all of our shoulders. Please think about this as you vote and as you talk to others. This is our democracy, but only if we can keep it.
We can still vote to keep it.
I’ll see you on the other side.
Tracy Hahn-Burkett is a writer and public policy advocate who has written everything from speeches for a U.S. senator to texts seeking proof-of-life from her kids in college. She’s published dozens of essays, columns, articles, reviews and a story, and teaches writing for advocacy. She currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area with her husband, cat, and dog, and she is revising her first novel. Her website is TracyHahnBurkett.com. You can find her on Threads as @tracyhahnburkett.
[coffee]
Thank you for this wise and timely meditation on the crossroad facing our nation. While perhaps overused at this point, the analogy of a frog boiling in slowly heated water remains an apt one. I am continually at how so many don’t recognize how much we have already lost, much less the effort it will take to rebuild trust in our communities, our institutions and each other.
I recently began wearing a shirt with the phrase “America is an idea” emblazoned across the front. To me it reflects an aspect of the sentiment you note that democracy is a verb.
Whenever we reject the aspirations seeded in the founding of our nation, we lose a piece of what makes us strong. Our nation has all too often faltered along the way, a sign of the frailty that comes with human institutions. But we have never outright rejected the ideals behind our nation, the bedrock principles that sustain us.
This crucial journey is nearly its end, and I can now only pray we as a nation can rise to the challenge, recognizing the precarious decision before us.
Thanks again for your experience and insights. Be well.
John, thank you for wearing that shirt. Too many people have lost sight of the fact that our nation very much is an idea–a unique “experiment.” And loss of that understanding is a major contributing factor to getting us where we are today.
You be well, too.
Tracy, thank you for these words, which command respect coming as they do out of your experiences as an aspiring ballet dancer, a student of autocratic regimes, and a worker in the trenches of political advocacy.
“Be the change you want to see happen” has been my mantra during this anxious time. Curious, I discovered that it originated with author and educator Arleen Lorrance in 1970 as one of the principles of The Love Project, which was started by her as a way to improve the lives and education of the students at Thomas Jefferson High in Brooklyn, and later the name of her book.
The best way we can do this right now is to vote and encourage/help others to do so.
Barbara, I love and have often lived that mantra! I didn’t know that about Arleen Lorrance; thanks for that bit of education. And I agree about what we can do right now. :)
Thanks for sharing your valuable perspective, Tracy. Democracy isn’t easy, is it? It would be so lovely if some rich bigwig could solve all our problems with impunity so we could just get on with our daily lives. But that’s not how democracy works. We can never become complacent about our hard-won freedoms BECAUSE there will always be some rich bigwig who thinks he knows better, promising to take care of everything on our behalf. We, the people, must answer “No thanks.” We’ll only continue to have rights if we fight for them daily AND back that up with our votes. It’s exhausting, quite frankly, but it’s the American way, and as someone who also values and relies upon freedom from oppression, I’ll choose—and support—democracy again and again.
Kathryn: You got it exactly right. Democracy is NOT easy, nor is it meant to be. When the people rule themselves, it’s really freaking messy, and problem-solving is often slow. But the idea is that eventually you get to the right–though imperfect–place. Easy is an autocrat who simply makes all the decisions for you. It’s not a stretch to see which of these two, even in the abstract, more often has the true interests of the people in mind, and why. And money interests are always involved in one form or another.
Winston Churchill who said, “[D]emocracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” He wasn’t wrong.
Thanks for this. I wasn’t sure what to do to “celebrate” election day tomorrow, when my vote is long since cast… but thanks to your shared memories I’m going to watch White Nights (again)!
White Nights! I can’t count how many times I watched that movie!! Thank you for that reminder.
Tracy, I remember your voice as being one of the first to call out dangerous authoritarianism here in the U.S., and I want to thank you for that–you helped me to see it (and once you see it, you can’t unsee it) and I know you’ve helped others as well.
There’s a slim book by Timothy Snyder called “On Tyranny” that I highly recommend to everyone. I’m not sure what will help people who are under the influence of so many lies to wake up, but digesting the book is a way to guard your own minds. I especially appreciate points 9 and 10.
Here’s the short form of 9: BE KIND TO OUR LANGUAGE: “Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. Make an effort to separate yourself from the internet. Read books.”
And here’s the short form of 10: BELIEVE IN TRUTH: “To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.”
Let’s raise a glass to Freedom and vote like hell to keep it.
Ooh, love both 9 & 10! To freedom! 🍻
Thank you, Therese. You have also been a voice against authoritarianism here, so I thank you profoundly for that as well.
Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny” packs so much wisdom into such a slim volume that I echo you in recommending it to everyone, no matter what happens in this election. It’s clear that we are now on notice, and we can all benefit from its lessons. We’re all avid readers here and can read this in a day. It’s well worth the investment of time.
My fellow writers, the word “democracy” looks like a noun, but it’s really a verb.
TRUTH. Thank you so much for your post, your words that are lighting up the day, and should be held dear by all writers and ALL creatives. When a government starts to restrict the freedoms of creativity, the ability to write, say paint a personal and creative message WE ARE IN TROUBLE. THIS IS WRONG, and our freedoms are in danger. We cannot let that happen.
Thank you, Beth. Freedom of expression is truly a fundamental freedom, and when that begins to go, we are truly in danger. As John Kelley noted in the first comment, the frog is beginning to boil.
We’re the ones who have to turn down the heat.
Well said, and thank you for posting.
This election really is a clear choice between authoritarianism an democracy. No country is perfect. No party or candidate is either. But, there is a clear choice between a candidate who honors and respects American traditions and governing institutions and one who does not.
The Founding Fathers never promised a “perfect union.” Instead, they said the goal was a “more perfect union.” Each new generation would have to take steps to protect that union and move us closer to the ideals of established justice, domestic tranquility, common defense, general welfare, and the blessings of liberty.
Benjamin Franklin made that clear when he told Elizabeth Willing Powel, “A republic, if you can keep it,” in response to her query, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”
Our duty is clear. Our need is great. May we all rise to the occasion and be the change we need in this world.
Ruth, you hit upon something essential in your comment: we were never promised perfection. The legacy of the Founding Fathers was “a more perfect union,” and we certainly have some glaring imperfections. But our charge–our responsibility–as citizens is to reach ever closer to perfection, knowing we’ll never get there, but we can improve what we start with. In this way, our grandchildren’s America can be better than our own–unless we allow self-serving, power-hungry autocrats or the like to tear it all down.
“Democracy is hard. It’s like art—we have to make it or it doesn’t exist.”
Tracy, there’s nothing I could add to your words that would make them any more impactful, so all I will say is that I hope writers and artists of all types hear your call and heed the warning. Freedom has never been free and it has never been easy, but it has always been worth it. I hope none of us take that for granted tomorrow. Thank you for your wise words.
Thank you, Grace. Never taking our gifts for granted is important in any part of life, and that applies here, too.
Hey Tracy, Authoritarianism–so clearly articulated in the closing slogan, “They broke it; He will fix it,”–is rooted in the desire by those who embrace it to impose their will on others. And, of course, imposing one’s will is always tied to threat. And threat must constantly flirt with violence. Any student of history can quickly ascertain that it’s the artists, the truth-tellers, who must be silenced first.
I’m saddened that so many of my countrymen are so quick to embrace a conception from which we, as a people, were founded to reject, and that we have repeatedly coalesced to resist. As a student of history, and an artist, I must recognize that despair is the enemy. Societal progress can only come from striving to break patterns that inevitably repeat, often in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds. It seems that, like storytelling, “othering” is in the very fabric of mankind’s societal mindset.
I’m choosing to draw hope from the pure joy and enthusiasm I see among so many of us who are willing to strive–to resist and to break this fundamental and flawed pattern once again. Progress is bound to come of it. All of it is food for storytelling.
Thanks for a wonderful reminder of the stakes. Hold onto your hope, WU, and resist despair. Here’s to striving.
Vaughn, the historical patterns you identify here are so accurate and honestly, the things that bring me down on my lowest days. Why can’t humanity learn and break free of this after seeing repeatedly how these actions turn out in the end? But there is hope in the realization that many, many people HAVE learned to recognize scapegoating, hatred, greed, self-dealing, hunger for power, etc., for what they are, and these are the people working to counter these forces in our country today. This is what sustains us–and will propel us to the ballot box tomorrow.
I view politics through the lens of my Catholic faith and there’s only one clear choice. I have already cast my vote and will be in prayer tomorrow. In Him does my hope and trust lie.
Vijaya, thank you for voting!
There’s nothing else to say but thank you, Tracy, aside from my hope that we, as Americans, stop selfishly viewing our votes as a way to get more for ‘me’ (my economy, my religious views, my safety) and instead see it as a way to create a society that works for ALL of us, as diverse and different as we are.
Amen, Liz. Society and community are critically important, and it seems that we lose sight of that sometimes. Thank you.
What’s that smell? Ugh, someone put freedom of expression in a cell, and now it’s starting to rot.
What’s that in the corner? Ugh, a poisonous spider has spun a giant web of blame and fear, gunning to catch the innocent and the guilty.
What’s that right in front of my face? Ugh, the constant, hammering drumbeat of Opposite World, where amoral politicians spout extraordinary lies about the other side, while they openly advocate same. (Election denial, anyone? Blame the women, anyone? A dry martini with your serving of cat, anyone?)
So much ugliness that the mind reels: one of the ugliest being that our standards for decency have been so shredded, that the daily litany of madness—yes, let’s shoot the reporters, I don’t mind—seems like something to shrug off. Damn.
Vote, keep hope alive.
Yes, Tom, all of this rot has worn people and standards down to the point where many of us have gotten almost used to it–and we should never get used to it. But constant shock is intolerable, which is why they keep shocking us. It’s not an accident.
“Vote, keep hope alive.” Exactly. Thank you.
Beautifully written! Writers and artists everywhere must not be quiet! We can use our words to persuade with logic, facts, and kindness. Get out the vote! I have already completed the assignment.
Should democracy win tomorrow, it will be by a slim margin. Asking ourselves what got us into this mess will be a significant concern. The ability to express and organize under an incoming fascist regime could become difficult and dangerous. The period between election day and inaugural day will be a critical one. Some will leave the country. Others will try to get by saying they aren’t doing anything blatantly political. Good luck with that one. When the courts ruled that el Presidente could do no harm, this was no longer a constitutional republic with a meaningful Bill of Rights.
Will we lose our freedom? Not here. Not ever.
Freedom is alive right now, right here, in the words you at reading, in the freedom you have in your mind and your heart, in the words you are writing today. No election will stop that. No government. No self-appointed guardians of any stripe.
Freedom is an idea too strong, a taste that cannot be untasted, a bell that cannot be un-wrung. Vote, yes, but also write. Today. Tomorrow. The day after, no matter what happens.
Look at history. No oppression has ever stopped writing. No censorship has ever succeeded. When presses are smashed, writing circulates by hand. It can’t be stopped. Write. That is our freedom and no one is going to take that away.
No one.
Thank you, Tracy, for reminding us that sanity and decency still exist. And for reminding us what we must do to help assure that they continue to infuse our political choices. I have voted. I have contributed to campaigns. I have volunteered my time. I have written postcards. I have talked to friends and relatives. I have displayed my political choices on my wearing apparel. The only thing left to do now is pray that there is enough sanity, enough decency, and enough moxie still in our country to prevail at the polls tomorrow. Oh, yes, and enough grit to survive the inevitable backlash that will come if we do.
I recently gave a talk to a small group on the subject of Critical Thinking Skills. One major aspect of CTS is the ability to look at a situation from different perspectives. Understanding how intelligent, reasonable adults can arrive at dissimilar solutions to a problem is an important skill in a diverse and complex society such as ours.
Perhaps the danger to democracy lies less in the differences of opinion and more in the calcification of positions. We have developed and encouraged an Us versus Them society which seeks to not only defeat the opposing side, but to demean them in the process.
As an optimist, I do not see this election as an end to democracy even though that’s the rallying cry from both sides. Instead, I see it as an opportunity to reset. To return to civil debate about large issues. To converse rather than argue. And more importantly, to seek understanding and common ground in place of declaring victory for “our side.” But we must be willing to listen to alternative points of view in order to achieve this goal.
The founding fathers sought to create a “more perfect Union.” Brave men and women have died to preserve that ideal. I celebrate the privilege of living in America by reflecting on what Abraham Lincoln so famously said: “… we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
However you vote, we are fellow Americans. I wish you well.
A timely post, Tracy.
I was born in Canada and lived in the US for twenty one years before returning home in 2017 as a dual citizen. We were considering coming back for healthcare and college for the kids – both who graduated with no debt.
As vile as Trump was in 2016, the more disturbing fact was the 60+M who voted for him. We saw this coming. There are fifty good reasons he is unfit to hold office again, I don’t need to explain those to this group. He gave crazy a voice and the inmates are running the asylum on the right side of the aisle.
The rot is coming after books, minorities, women’s bodies, the LGBTQ+ community, and, yes, freedom.
They will certainly ban my book in FL as it tackles teen suicide and LGBTQ rights. But hey, thanks FL, for the location of my story and an endless supply of villainous activity to choose from.
They do not choose what we write. We do.
You write so eloquently of the issues we’ve been living for the past few years that it brought it all into more terrifying, chilling relief. But so necessary to hear on the eve of this crucial election, still in time to propel anyone to the polls who may have decided to sit it out. I notice all the quotes and expressions that emerged in the comments. It reminded me of one I think of often lately: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
My husband and I both mailed our ballots from Australia, and then I even called the San Diego voting office last week to make sure they received them, taking no chances. We may have chosen to physically remove ourselves from the daily stress and turmoil roiling our former home, but we are no less invested in the outcome.
BTW, Australia seems as gripped as America by the consequential nature of this election. It will be wall-to-wall coverage tomorrow and we will will be glued to the TV. Not only is US democracy is at stake, but the outcome has global implications.
I wonder what Washington, Lincoln, Gandhi, and King would think of the lies and inflammatory rhetoric of so many of today’s political candidates and their acolytes. Twisting language and subverting the truth is as powerful as any army in destroying democracy.
I’m reading this on the other side of the election; one that has left me deeply saddened by the turn our country has taken. Staying vigilant and always seeking the truth seems to be the way to go now. I’m only hoping I can survive the next four years.
Well spoken, but sadly, the autocrats won. America has indeed changed. People care more about economics than democracy.
This NYT opinion piece was especially moving, IMO:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/opinion/trump-wins-harris-loses.html?campaign_id=39&emc=edit_ty_20241107&instance_id=138989&nl=opinion-today®i_id=201857024&segment_id=182548&user_id=a21777fbc8ae61a4183f590025e4a3d0
The only accurate statistic on Election Day: 100% of Americans think 50% of Americans have lost their dang minds.