John O'Neal, Actor and Activist: The Praxis of Storytelling

Abstract

Multiculturalism is one of the hot topics of the I99os. Cultural brokers, politicians, and academics debating multiculturalism risk diminishing it to the affirmative of artistic expression; representatives from the cultures and communities determined by the power structure to be other are invited into cultural arenas as tokens, icons, or ambassadors. The power of art to signify becomes restricted to the extent that art is read as a sociological or anthropological document about That Other Place/People. Multicultural events may communicate more about their sponsors (whose invitations have earned them the badge of political correctness or have diplomatically appeased systematically disenfranchised communities) than about self-determined cultural expressions emanating from communities of oppressed and exploited people. Effective multicultural action in the arts requires the equitable participation on all levels of organization, administration, and production of the marginalized and the privileged. The Caribbean Cultural Center of New York City sponsored a conference in October I991 entitled .. .And Then Columbus: Cultural Diversity Based on Cultural Grounding II.' The conference drew together artists, activists, intellectuals, and cultural workers from many communities around the world to begin to formulate a new paradigm for cultural equity. The majority of attendees were people of color. While English was the language used in presentations, it was not a universally shared tongue. One aim of the conference was to begin the arduous task of assembling a lexicon for discussing the quest for cultural equity. According to Hilda Guiterrez Baldoquin, consultant for VISIONS, Inc., and doctoral candidate at Stanford University's School of Education: