“It takes courage to change people’s hearts.”
By William Riddle
Where are the courageous men and women of integrity and compassion willing to stand for the dignity and fundamental rights of all human beings?
History remembers those who did: Mahatma Gandhi. Martin Luther King Jr. Rosa Parks. Harvey Milk. They understood that rights do not protect themselves. They require courage, perseverance, and conviction. Now it is our turn.
But standing for what is right does not require hatred. We do not have to answer cruelty with cruelty, contempt with contempt, or division with division. We can be fierce without being hateful, passionate without being cruel, and courageous without dehumanizing those with whom we disagree.
If we ask for dignity, we must demonstrate dignity. If we ask for respect, we must demonstrate respect. If we ask for compassion, we must practice compassion. That is why I believe so deeply in art.
For much of my life, I believed that creating extraordinary art for its own sake was enough. Today, I no longer believe it is. We are living at a moment when prejudice can find new audiences, cultural memory can be diminished, and history can be selectively rewritten to serve those in power or those determined to see the past differently.
But history is not ours to rewrite because we dislike what it tells us. The honest, accurate truth of history cannot be erased or reshaped to fit a political ideology, personal worldview, or the preferences of those who hold power. We owe future generations the truth—even when that truth is uncomfortable.
America itself is a living testament to this principle. We are a nation shaped by people whose ancestors came from virtually every corner of the globe—people who came seeking freedom, safety, opportunity, and religious liberty. Our history is not one story. It is millions of stories woven together into the complicated, imperfect, extraordinary American story.
To erase any of those stories is to diminish all of us. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights begins with a principle that should never be controversial: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” That is our common ground. Human dignity does not depend upon race, religion, nationality, gender, sexuality, social standing, politics, or ideology.
We are human first. And art has a remarkable ability to remind us of that truth. Art can speak where arguments fail. It can invite us into another person’s story, confront another history, hear another voice, and perhaps recognize ourselves in someone we were taught to fear. Art can confront darkness without becoming darkness.
Our answer to hatred can be love…Our answer to cruelty and indifference can be compassion…Our answer to falsehood can be truth…Our answer to irrationality can be reason. Not because these responses are easy—but because we choose to be better!
That belief is at the heart of VOICES…Humanity as Art!: the conviction that music, storytelling, history, culture, and the arts can create a space where people encounter one another not as opposing sides, but as human beings. This is ultimately a cultural conversation—a conversation about who we are, what we remember, what we value, and what kind of country and world we leave to those who come after us.
I grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina in the 1960s and ’70s, in a community where people looked after one another and showing up mattered. I was taught to believe in the goodness of people, in compassion, and in the promise of America. I still believe, perhaps that is why I am troubled by what I see today. But I also believe our better angels are still here. Perhaps they are simply waiting for us to call upon them again. So let us! Let us show the next generation that strength does not require cruelty. That disagreement does not require contempt. That compassion is not weakness. That empathy is not surrender. That beauty still matters. That truth matters. That history matters and let us use the extraordinary power of the arts to demonstrate it.
This is why VOICES…Humanity as Art! must be about more than a series of performances. It is about finding our voices—and using them with courage, dignity, and purpose. It is an invitation to stand together: for artists to tell stories that matter, for audiences to listen before judging, and for communities to encounter one another through the shared experience of extraordinary art.
Because culture is more than entertainment. Culture is memory. Culture is identity. Culture is history. Culture is human connection. When culture is diminished, threatened, erased, or forgotten, we all lose something.
So let us take our voices into the broader community—not with anger, but with excellence; not with contempt, but with dignity; not with division, but with invitation. Not by shouting louder, but by creating something so beautiful, truthful, compelling, and profoundly human that people cannot easily look away.
We need more than applause. We need participation. We need people willing to show up, listen, engage, and stand for something larger than themselves. Because we cannot make our voices heard alone.
Beneath every label, every argument, and every difference that divides us remains one undeniable truth…We are all human beings! Let that be our starting point. Let that be our common ground. Let that be our voice…and let ART be our voice.
Goodness to evil. Love to hatred. Compassion to cruelty and indifference. Truth to falsehood. Reason to irrationality. Not because we cannot answer darkness with darkness—but because we choose to be better.
Art must rise. We must rise. Not above one another—but together…VOICES…Humanity as Art!