Arizona School Caves -- Black & Latino Students’ Faces On Mural Changed To White

[phantom power]

Hard to choose what's most appalling about this, but I think it's the fact that the principal caved.

Hard to find even the Gallows Humor in this story, so maybe we won’t even try. Maybe it’s time to admit that large chunks of America are in the hands of unreconstructed racists and vulgar idiots, and that the popular election of a black man as president just might’ve pushed these furious, economically doomed old white people into a final rage that is going to end very, very badly. Ready? Here you go: An Arizona elementary school mural featuring the faces of kids who attend the school has been the subject of constant daytime drive-by racist screaming, from adults, as well as a radio talk-show campaign (by an actual city councilman, who has an AM talk-radio show) to remove the black student’s face, and now the school principal has ordered the faces of the Latino and Black students to be changed to Caucasian skin.

...

The children depicted on the mural, as we mentioned before but feel compelled to repeat, are little kids who go to the school — “a K-5 school with 380 students and the highest ethnic mix of any school in Prescott. Wall said thousands of town residents volunteered or donated to the project.”

And these children, for the past several months as this happy mural encouraging “green transportation” was being painted by local artists, have been treated to the city of Prescott’s finest citizens driving by and yelling “Nigger” and “Spic” at this school wall painted with pictures of the children who attend the school. And this has been encouraged by a city councilman, Steve Blair, who uses his local radio talk show to rile up these people and demand the mural be destroyed.

And now the faces are being painted white, “because of the controversy.”

Read more at Wonkette: http://wonkette.com/415809/arizona-school-demands-black-latino-students-faces-on-mural-be-changed-to-white#ixzz0pvTosNbf

[Ron Green]

1. Which is the bellwether for the dystopia that is coming?

Arizona or Florida?

[marmar]

2. Good F**king Grief......

Scarizona

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. These are kids who attend the school

Does he plan on changing their skin color?

[phantom power]

9. One wonders. I hope the students and their parents force him to resign in shame.

I'm trying to wrap my mind about what it must do to a kid's self-esteem to have their fucking school principal endorse those racist fucks by painting over his own students' skin color.

I'm ashamed of my state today.

[FedUpWithIt All]

14. It seems he was having it changed to prevent the kids from hearing the slurs.

I think the intent was to try and protect the children. WRONG way to go about it though. If all the children cannot be represented, than none should be.

But i suspect that the principal was working, in a rather ill conceived manner, for the targeted children.

[phantom power]

16. Very possible. But... wow. Epic Fail.

It's sad he was put in that position to begin with, of course, thanks to all the racist fucks coming out of the closet these days.

[ShamelessHussy]

4. WTH - is this true?!

I am starting to worry for my children and my wife :argh:

[Angry Dragon]

13. I worry about all the people of this country that have a soul

I worry about this country and I do not see goods things for it.

[Pisces]

5. What the F is going on with people.

[Ian David]

6. Here's the new mural...

[The Backlash Cometh]

27. Wonderful. You hit it on the nail.

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. A+

[VOX]

33. Game, set, match! Perfect!

Now, all those stern-faced Hitlerjugend need are AZ state flags...

[Angry Dragon]

7. I just can not understand where these people get all their hate

This country is reaching a boiling point.
I am not sure if there is a revolution going on in this country or if the revolution is coming.

[charlie]

8. Wrong goddamn lesson for the kids

This is one instance where someone should "think of the children."

In fact, the mural should be extended to include pinhead teabaggers with tiny dicks.

[phantom power]

12. I cannot comprehend the damage he just did to the students he's supposed to support.

Where do I start?

"It's OK to cave in to racists"
"Your skin color is a legitimate source of shame"
"Your white friends are better than you"

Fucking hell.

[FedUpWithIt All]

10. If the intention really was to protect the students from the racist insults

then the most responsible thing to do would be to remove the whole mural. You don't "paint over" some of the students.

I wonder if the principals hands were not tied in some way. Money was donated for the mural so damned if removed. Scary racist assholes making threats so damned (not to mention scary for the little ones) if it stays.

I hate mean people!!

[Raineyb]

25. THat is the most asinine rationalization I've ever heard and only the biggest of suckers would fall

for it.

That principal should be fired for being a clown. How exactly is it protecting the children to tell them that their skin color is so offensive it has to be changed for the greater good?

On a side note anyone who thinks that stupid law they passed over there has nothing to do with racism is a dumb fuck.

[FedUpWithIt All]

31. Well i suppose you would have handled this very sensitive and difficult situation perfectly.

Good to know.


I don't recall comment a single word about the law they passed, BTW.

Have a nice day.

[Posteritatis]

32. "We see no reason to kowtow to the demands of bigots" would be a better response. (nt)

Better that than having to explain to one of the kids in that school why he's not white enough to be seen.

[JonLP24]

36. That wasn't the explanation given

The principal himself said it was for "shading".

A group of artists has been asked to lighten the faces of children depicted in a giant public mural at a Prescott school.

The project’s leader says he was ordered to lighten the skin tone after complaints about the children’s ethnicity. But the school’s principal says the request was only to fix shading and had nothing to do with political pressure.

The “Go on Green” mural, which covers two walls outside Miller Valley Elementary School, was designed to advertise a campaign for environmentally friendly transportation. It features portraits of four children, with a Hispanic boy as the dominant figure.

R.E. Wall, director of Prescott’s Downtown Mural Project, said he and other artists were subjected to slurs from motorists as they worked on the painting at one of the town’s most prominent intersections.

“We consistently, for two months, had people shouting racial slander from their cars,” Wall said. “We had children painting with us, and here come these yells of (epithet for Blacks) and (epithet for Hispanics).”

http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2010/06/05/children-in-school-mural-are-too-dark-for-principal-and-for-some-community-members/?cxntfid=blogs_get_schooled_blog

[Solly Mack]

11. Speechless

[Starry Messenger]

15. Words fail.

And here on DU we had people saying that the new law was a simple matter, just have your driver's license, etc. Bigotry is a structural problem that does not exist in isolation.


God, the message this sends to kids.

[phantom power]

17. And it won't do anything but embolden the racist-fuck contingent.

Give them this kind of victory, and they'll just be energized even more.

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. It's beyond disgusting

My heart aches for the kids.

[NOLALady]

18. Heaven help us all!

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

19. It seemed to far-fetched to be true, so I did some interneting

and yes, apparently, Steve Blair, is a racist pig.

http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubSectionID=1118&ArticleID=81766

looked like a beautiful mural, wonder what it looks like now.....

[marybourg]

20. For perhaps a *slightly* less incendiary

take on the controversy, see the following and note the photo of the child's face, on the right side of the page, and see if perhaps you don't agree that something is wrong with the shading of said face (not the overall color of it).

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/06/04/20100604arizona-mural-sparks-racial-debate.html

[Posteritatis]

34. Do you seriously think people are taking issue with shading and not simply skin color? (nt)

[EFerrari]

37. So, why were there drive-by ethnic epithets? Maybe they didn't get it, either.

[pinboy3niner]

38. "Hey, (racist epithet)--we have an ARTISTIC CONCERN about hues" ...

... is NOT what the drive-by racists were shouting.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. Sounds like grounds for a lawsuit to me.

[Obamanaut]

22. Several posts at this earlier thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8487120&mesg_id=8487120

[asjr]

23. Why do the bad guys always win? Is it that there

are more of them than there are good guys? I am sadder today than I have ever been. I was born here, grew up all over the country and I am getting old now. But not in my country. There are more things going wrong today than at any other time in my life. When things have not gone so right before in my life I have looked forward for a new chance. But the chances now are slim to none. I can only hope my children and grandchildren will make an effort to make it right.

[blueamy66]

24. Prescott used to be a great place.

It's just not the same anymore.

Too many people moved in from out of state and ruined the town.

[tabasco]

26. Hard to believe they hate these children so much.

There is a reason I live in the middle of nowhere.

I have become a misanthrope because of these assholes.

[flying rabbit]

30. Sad... n/t

:gloomysmiley:

[sakabatou]

35. WTF?!

[BolivarianHero]

39. Steve Blair belong in Auschwitz...

Menegle could not come up with punishments cruel enough for someone like this fuck.

[pinboy3niner]

40. "Steve Blair fired by Prescott radio station for racist remarks about school mural"

DU GD thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8494101

[depakid]

41. If you wanted a symbol that effectively sums up the appalling state of affairs

it would be difficult to have found a more appropriate one.