Artist’s statement: Staci Hujsa, Art Education
 
Working with Sherman Labovitz has been an amazing experience. I have learned so much from our visits and interviews. He has a very professorly way about him and he knows so much about history and politics. He did so much for his cause, and was never afraid of what could happen to him. I can’t describe how scary it is to me to be in such a vulnerable position. Thinking about all that Sherm has done is just amazing to me. I am terrified of arguing politics with people because I am afraid of looking stupid, and I never feel that I know enough to adequately debate hot topics. I can't even wrap my head around what it would be like to be that involved from such a young age. Sherm’s courage is awesome to me. Knowing that many people hate your beliefs and that you can go to prison for speaking your mind, and still going and advocating your beliefs is one of the bravest things you can do, in my eyes. I feel like that’s why learning about this is so interesting, because it is so hard for me to imagine myself doing that. Meeting with Sherm has helped me obtain some courage of my own.
 
Coming up with a project that depicts Sherm’s experiences was not an easy thing. I wanted it to show how he has never hidden his beliefs, even though they may not be liked by everyone. This is how we thought of the metaphor behind this project, One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. It is meant to show how many people think that communism is a bad and evil thing, but when you actually look at it, there are important ideas that I think need to still be considered and applied today.  Besides knowing people didn’t like his beliefs, Sherm was under constant surveillance and harassment by the FBI. They wire tapped his phone, and constantly followed him around. The FBI did everything imaginable to scare him and try to get information to use against him. One of the stories of this surveillance is that Sherm found out that the FBI was going through his garbage - so he began emptying the contents of his son’s diaper into his trash. This shows his attitude towards being watched, he never hid, but found as many ways to subtly “stick it to the man” as he could. He never let them win.
 
The party’s ideas on equality, worker’s rights, and social government programs are many of the things people are fighting for today. Those ideas are what are most appealing to me about the Party. Sherm believes that there needs to be more equal distribution of wealth and assets in this country and the world, and I completely agree with that. Sherm’s work with the party and what he fought for was one of the vehicles in his life-long commitment to making the world an equal and better place for everyone.