We, the leaders of Mosaic Experiment (the MOrg), made a mistake weeks ago: we did not immediately express our strong stance as an anti-racist community. We recognize that no single statement could address every aspect of how systemic racism intersects our community. We understand that poor leadership regarding race can lead to real and lasting harm. That said, our community must unlearn racism - together.
We categorically refuse to tolerate any presence of racism in any of our communities. Racism directly harms the ability of Black burners to engage in radical self-expression, participation, communal effort and immediacy. By improving the experience that Black and other burners of color have at our events, we improve the experience for all of us. Freedom to participate with immediacy increases the creative, chaotic joy of burn magic.
In order to improve things, we start with establishing the present condition. Racism exists. Historically weaponized by white people to justify owning slaves and colonizing the globe, it is still leveraged today in order to preserve power. The toxicity of racism seeps into the inner workings of all our minds, hearts and bodies. Our position and lived experience impacts how this toxicity shows in our everyday lives. If we are white, we benefit from this legacy. If we are Black, we carry the scars of lynching, segregation, discrimination, and trauma in our souls. The wounding continues to this day.
We must acknowledge that a community without racism is an alien phenomenon to those of us alive today. Currently, the members of the Mosaic community appear to be overwhelmingly white. As an all-volunteer organization, our leadership emerges from and reflects the wider community.
We also want to emphasize the impact our mostly white community can create in prioritizing growth, learning, and dialogue around racism. Since white people created and sustained this oppressive system, we must take full responsibility for dismantling it, too. This responsibility means seeking to educate ourselves, humbly acknowledging when we make mistakes, and welcoming accountability from Black burners.
Two years ago, our community declared the importance of safety at our event, and recognized the problem of sexual assault and harassment within our community. We responded by creating the Consent Team. Now, as we acknowledge the presence of racism, we must educate ourselves and hold each other accountable, just like we are doing with consent. We recognize that this will always be a work in progress, meaning continual growth and improvement over time.
We welcome increased diversity in the voices of the leadership team. However, we know the path to get there is not by singling out individual burners of color and expecting additional labor from them. There are always leadership positions available to members of our community, and we welcome any burner who desires to contribute to join us. We acknowledge that there are barriers to taking on leadership roles, and we are working to better understand and address them.
As a first step, the MOrg will update the Code of Conduct to explicitly define microaggressions as harassment. As we review our existing practices and policies, we will examine our recruitment process for the MOrg. We will look for opportunities to elevate Black burners, such as reserving a portion of art grants specifically for BIPOC artists. We commit to continually educating ourselves on racism, and will provide educational opportunities for our community through the Consent Team, both at the burn and through engagement on social media. Additionally, various members of the MOrg are involved with initiatives to address diversity within the burner community. We will continue to improve Mosaic’s operations as we uncover ways to do so.
We enthusiastically ask for your participation in this process. Please bring forward ideas, concerns, problems and solutions, either in the comments below or anonymously on the contact page. It’s your burn - how would you like it to be? How will you welcome the Black community into Mosaic Experiment?
