Redaction

MacArthur fellows Kaphar, a painter, and Betts (Felon), a poet and lawyer, take "a journey through words & images meant to trouble" in this provocative and lavishly produced companion to their 2019 MoMA PS1 exhibition on "the criminal justice system's multifarious failings." Focusing on the practice of money bail, the collaborators depict it as deeply exploitative because it allows wealthier defendants to remain free until their trials, while poor people are imprisoned even though they have yet to be tried or convicted. Kaphar's black-and-white etchings of men, women, and children, overlaid with Betts's poems, made by redacting words and phrases from the Civil Rights Corps' lawsuits on behalf of individuals who could not pay their court fees, capture the cruelty of this practice. For example, a single portrait and a handful of words tell the story of a 38-year-old man jailed because he owed the city of Montgomery, Ala., $1,600 stemming from unpaid traffic tickets; since he was unable to pay these charges, the judge sentenced him to 23 days in prison, during which time he could "work off his debt" by cleaning the cells, including mopping up other inmates' blood and feces. Elsewhere, vivid, full-color paintings evoking the history of African American culture are paired with Betts's piercing poems on the legacy of mass incarceration and his own imprisonment as a teenager: "My plumage has become/ A lament of cell doors closing." The result is a brilliant and original condemnation of racial injustice. (Feb.)

In the late 2010s, poet, memoirist, and attorney Betts and artist/filmmaker Kaphar--both MacArthur Fellows--began collaborating on a project aiming to highlight the injustices of the U.S. justice system. Using the technique of redaction--blotting out lines in legal documents to reveal key words that here clarify the erasure of Black lives and Black rights--Betts's poems were mostly superimposed on Kaphar's anguished, incisive etching of Black faces. In 2019, the resulting "Redaction" poems/prints were exhibited at MoMA PS1 in New York. This magisterial volume collects these works, along with photos of the exhibition and further work from both poet and artist, to create a significant whole. The "Redaction poems" startle in what they pinpoint; in a mostly blotted out document signed by George Washington as president, the words person and fugitive leap out tellingly, while elsewhere we read "plaintiffs….impoverished….unable to pay…work of debts….$25 per day….scrubbing feces and blood from jail floors…." and "Plaintiffs allege…bail…is unconstitutional…because it fails….the Eighth amendment," an issue of particular concern to the creators. Betts's remaining poems of Black life and community love and tenderness measure up to his best, while Kaphur's brilliant (and mostly brilliantly hued) artwork often juxtaposes oppressor and oppressed. VERDICT A powerful document of social injustice, BISACed as social science but of crucial interest for arts and poetry collections; pricey but worth it for many libraries.--Barbara Hoffert