NEPR | April 4, 2018
A performance artist at Amherst College on Thursday uses the threads of a confederate flag to draw attention to the United States’ history of racism. Sonya Clark, an Amherst College alumna, has gained national attention for publicly unraveling a confederate flag she bought online. As part of a series of performances at different locations, she invites audience members to undo the cloth alongside her over the course of a couple hours.
“Racial injustice is part of the fabric of this nation,” she said. “Its complexity is also part of the fabric of this nation. Its undoing is slow, and requires many people.”
In 2015, a week after Clark bought her first confederate flag for an art performance, white supremacist Dylan Roof murdered nine black church-goers in South Carolina. Clark said the flags were briefly harder to come by after that—but now they are abundant again. The performance art takes place on Thursday, April 5, at Amherst College.