It was with great interest I read an article on concerns raised regarding issues black curators have, or may not have, on dealing with artefacts that may be disturbing to work with in terms of the racist implications behind the usage in times past.
Furthermore, as it is assumed that the black curators may experience emotional trauma, that they be offered access to "help" to deal with "difficult content", with the provision of mental health support, and of "safe spaces" for black curators to 'escape' the stress of such racist historical content, it appears this is a subject worthy of further discussion.
It is well known amongst the black community within the U.K. that the subject of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, how slaves were brutally treated, the controversial methods used to restrain, constrain, and punish the slaves in to submission, never ceases to raise emotional feelings of anger, and fuel heated discussion. To suggest that black curators working with historically racist artefacts may experience a negative effect on their mental health, and therefore will be offered help where necessary, is very uncomfortable reading indeed.
What evidence is there to sustain this view? Personally, I would prefer the black curators to state their own concerns publicly, if such concerns exist.
For those who may not be aware, black curators are not exclusive to the National Museums Liverpool. Caribbean curators are also within The Caribbean Region pursuing their research and/or recording artefacts on that highly contentious and controversial period of Caribbean History. Each find, and discovery of knowledge, strengthens the resolve to heighten research efforts to piece together its 'buried' history, and that of its slave ancestors. Apart from the typical human feelings of tiredness and occasional stress that all we humans experience from time to time, to date I have not heard of any issues regarding the mental health of researchers/curators in the field of African and Caribbean History at universities and museums within The Caribbean Region. I am willing to be corrected.
I would have thought that black curators, at a museum within the U.K., given the opportunity to be at the helm of working with artefacts which are significant in the history of their people, would place them in the ideal position to learn extensively and enthusiastically of the past, and build a picture of the horrors of slavery not only for the Black African/Caribbean Community's educational benefit, but for everyone's learning and interest.
I will set aside the Black Lives Matter Movement, for the moment, which in my opinion, is being used as a cover for this extraordinary assumption. Unless there are other underlying reasons to give validity to the issue that black curators may require "help" in the provision of mental health support, and "safe spaces", and these be offered should the need arise, in order to cope with the positives and negatives of their work, I will treat that assumption with extreme scepticism.
Peace
Grace
