Our Position: Black Lives Matter
The team at Sozo is devastated by the horrific public execution of George Floyd and widespread police brutality being inflicted upon the Black community — compounded by the recent wildly disproportionate attempts to crush the uprising of Black and allied voices demanding change with even more police brutality and abuse of American military power.
We stand with and among protesters tackling systemic racism head-on, and risking their lives twofold — against an invisible killer, and against those wielding the law as a weapon of righteousness.
For those in our community who wish to add their muscle to the growing movement but cannot physically take it to the streets, we have linked an excellent resource for your use and sharing below.
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.
— Archbishop Desmond Tutu
As an all-female and predominantly POC team, we know that walking in our shoes and being an ally [to who we are] are two distinct but powerful & symbiotic roles. As such, we know that as allies of the Black community, our most potent position is to amplify those voices. We do urge our fellow allies to continue encouraging others to cease use of “All Lives Matter” in lieu of Black Lives Matter. Stating the latter does not insinuate that non-Black lives matter less and frankly, to use the former is to diminish the value of Black lives and undermine the movement. Police brutality disproportionately targets black people. Black lives have to be truly seen and matter before we earn the right to say that all lives matter. Read more here.
Our resolve is stronger than ever to wield the power of artistic expression within the sphere of social justice to educate, spark solution-oriented discourse and ideas, and empower our collective whole to imagine and create the future that the marginalized and diminished so deeply deserve. A core tenet of our mission has been, and continues to be, effecting change in society for the underserved and underseen. As Sozo artist Lemon Andersen has said: it’s never too late, but now is the time.
Use your voice.
Use your privilege.
We are using ours.
Our new curatorial division Sozo Creative, in partnership with the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, recently curated & hosted a virtual conference discussing forward-facing innovations in support of BLM and arts industry sustainability in the post-Covid-19 era. The dialogues and level of attendance were incredible. We are excited to present & collaborate on more solution-oriented invitations to thinktank & act in the near- and long-term; highlights from the two day conference will be available soon.
Our team is committed to amplifying underheard voices & building artistic and cultural bridges to invoke a vibrant, trusting, compassionate — and just society.
Watch now: works by our artist-activists.
Learn more: Sozo’s nonprofit, Sozo Impact — amplifying the voices of underserved communities & effecting a positive shift through the arts.
Sozo Artists is a collective of global change-making artists & creative producers based in New York, Oakland, and Los Angeles — focused on providing general management, booking, & creative production services. Sozo Artists is a sister company of Sozo Vision.
Warm thanks to Ichun Yeh, Chisa Yamaguchi, & Rika Iino for their invaluable input on this piece.
