An Exchange About Destroying a Significant Work of Art That Some Find Offensive

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1. Aaron Barlow says:

   July 6, 2019 at 5:43 am

   We cannot change the past by destroying its artifacts. Near Budapest is an outdoor museum of Soviet-era statuary. SF might follow that example, moving the work–as you suggest. Being offended by the past can be powerful motivation. That won’t happen if we pretend it wasn’t there.

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2. FLERP! says:

   July 6, 2019 at 5:58 am

   I’ve been very down for a long time for various reasons, and it really helped my mood this morning to read what you wrote on this topic, Diane. Thanks.

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   • dianeravitch says:

     July 6, 2019 at 6:14 am

     Thank you, FLERP! I hope you are feeling better.

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3. dianeravitch says:

   July 6, 2019 at 6:24 am

   FYI The iconic photograph of the Vietnamese children fleeing and crying appears in many high school history textbooks.

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   • Brandee says:

     July 6, 2019 at 1:18 pm

     Right. But we don’t put up ceiling-high mural of those kinds of genocide scenes in school lobbies.That’s where the “Life of Washington” mural is.

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   • carolinesf says:

     July 6, 2019 at 2:15 pm

     I’m going to start clarifying on all my comments that I don’t endorse destroying the mural! But the students’ point is that a picture that appears in a history textbook is a different context than a mural that looms over the front hall where students pass through, gather and linger regularly.

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   • Lyndsey Schlax says:

     July 6, 2019 at 2:17 pm

     Yes, but it is not on the walls. Students do not sit and eat lunch and laugh beneath it. It’s almost exclusively viewed in the context of learning, with adults ready to support and explain and moderate.

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4. Duane E Swacker says:

   July 6, 2019 at 6:49 am

   I’m with you, Diane on this one.

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   • GregB says:

     July 6, 2019 at 9:09 am

     Love it when we agree, Duane!

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5. Susan Flagg says:

   July 6, 2019 at 7:07 am

   We must not obliterate history.To do so damages everyone . I believe that too many icons of the past are being destroyed just because they are offensive to some. Leave the mural as it is or save it for future generations.

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6. LeftCoastTeacher says:

   July 6, 2019 at 7:07 am

   “White woman to white woman”? Interesting. Ok, so I say burn it. Use a big torch. Burn the mural. Melt it. Burn all the books too. Burn Uncle Tom’s Cabin because that book makes the oppression of slavery seem so darn intricate. Burn Huckleberry Finn because it contains that word that makes some white woman people so uncomfortable. Burn the mural and the books. Burn them all! Burn Fahrenheit 451. Most of all, keep everything serious from the children. Shh! Do NOT teach the children. Schools are places where we learn how to STEM, how to code, how to Common Core; not where we learn about art or literature or history. It’s enough history to know the founding fathers took over the airports in 1776. What is historical, cultural artwork doing in a school in the first place, anyhow? Schools are places of choice, not community. What if our Silicon Valley tech overlords want to privatize? How can they do that unless we sanitize the history and the culture of the school first? No, this mural is all wrong. Burn it and burn The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible because when something makes you feel uncomfortable, you burn it. White woman to white woman, indeed.

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   • dianeravitch says:

     July 6, 2019 at 7:18 am

     SDP,

     I thought of the book burnings.

     A few minutes ago, I was on Twitter, and was asked how I would feel if I had to walk past a painting of a man raping a woman every day on my way to work. I responded that I have recently visited museums in Italy that had paintings and sculptures of rapes. It never occurred to me to ask the museum director to destroy them.

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     • maestramalinche says:

       July 6, 2019 at 8:16 am

       Schools are not museums. This is the point. What we choose to put on the walls of our schools must be able to change and speak to the students we serve, just as our lessons do. In San Francisco we recognize the value of this work for its time. But, it portrays trauma to Native and Black people. Do our Native and Black youth need reminding of it everyday at school? In San Francisco, their voices, after decades of fighting this mural, have been heard- the answer is a resounding no. The comparisons with history textbooks and museums don’t make sense here. Of course American genocides must be taught with documents and artwork. But we don’t leave the artwork of the genocide up on the walls of a school all year long. Can we understand the difference here? If the photograph of the Vietnamese child running down the street from the war were a permanent fixture in a school, and students had to pass by it everyday, I would choose to digitally archive it and yes, even destroy the original if there was no other way to preserve it.

       There’s also another notion of how murals work. I live in the Mission District of San Francisco- an area known for its murals- both commissioned and not. Some murals stay up for decades and benefit from periodic updates; some get painted over with new murals and messages. There is a fantastic interplay of community, values, and art on the streets. And, if graffiti destroys a piece of art that is highly valued, the community can choose to paint it again. In the school setting, it is not so easy to get rid of a mural that is offensive to so many. But, it can be digitally archived and recreated elsewhere, hopefully in a museum.

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     • Bob Shepherd says:

       July 6, 2019 at 9:01 am

       Should we go into museums and rip from the walls every depiction of Leda and the Swan? Should we burn every literature textbook that contains Thomas Wyatt’s “Whoso List to Hunt”? How about every depiction of “Beauty and the Beast” in literature, art, or film? Or should these provide occasions for discussion of a) their historical contexts and b) why they are offensive to many modern sensibilities? Give me the latter, thank you.

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     • LeftCoastTeacher says:

       July 6, 2019 at 12:23 pm

       Sounds like white people are the ones who get upset. I think those who want to paint over are worried not about oppressed people, but about white people being reminded of the monstrosities of their past. I don’t think anyone is really worried about Native or African American students being reminded of their suffering every day. They are reminded of their suffering every day in a myriad of ways without the artwork, frankly.

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     • carolinesf says:

       July 6, 2019 at 2:17 pm

       No, Left Coast Teacher — it’s been clear that Native and African-American students are the voices calling for removing the mural. (Again, noting that I don’t endorse destroying it.)

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     • LeftCoastTeacher says:

       July 6, 2019 at 2:55 pm

       So, great teachable moment? Did the students make the final decision? Did the students contact the New York Times?

       Look, it’s really difficult to discuss from hundreds of miles away when different direct sources are writing conflicting things. It’s also frustrating to disagree with you, Caroline, someone whom I hold in great esteem. I’m not even sure we disagree.

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     • carolinesf says:

       July 6, 2019 at 3:23 pm

       Thank you, LCT! I hold you in great esteem too, and Diane of course, and most of the people here. I don’t view disagreement on an issue, or in this case on the nuances of an issue, as impairing that esteem.

       On this issue, there are loud voices muddying the situation, or just making it messier (such as the NY Times column sneering at the young activists as “snowflakes” with “hurt feelings”). So it’s easy for people to grasp the nuances differently.

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     • carolinesf says:

       July 6, 2019 at 3:40 pm

       Also, I oppose destroying the mural, so we actually don’t disagree.

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   • GregB says:

     July 6, 2019 at 9:12 am

     Thanks, LCT! Very well stated. The “white woman to white woman” thing really chafed and your examples are perfect.

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7. Teachingeconomist says:

   July 6, 2019 at 7:42 am

   If the frescoes can not be moved, perhaps they can be covered. Notre Dame is doing this with some murals depicting Christopher Columbus. See https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/education/notre-dame-to-cover-murals-of-christopher-columbus-in-main/article_f04aa539-ecd9-5652-86f2-b0cb131ac0fe.html

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8. maestramalinche says:

   July 6, 2019 at 8:17 am

   Schools are not museums. This is the point. What we choose to put on the walls of our schools must be able to change and speak to the students we serve, just as our lessons do. In San Francisco we recognize the value of this work for its time. But, it portrays trauma to Native and Black people. Do our Native and Black youth need reminding of it everyday at school? In San Francisco, their voices, after decades of fighting this mural, have been heard- the answer is a resounding no. The comparisons with history textbooks and museums don’t make sense here. Of course American genocides must be taught with documents and artwork. But we don’t leave the artwork of the genocide up on the walls of a school all year long. Can we understand the difference here? If the photograph of the Vietnamese child running down the street from the war were a permanent fixture in a school, and students had to pass by it everyday, I would choose to digitally archive it and yes, even destroy the original if there was no other way to preserve it.

   There’s also another notion of how murals work. I live in the Mission District of San Francisco- an area known for its murals- both commissioned and not. Some murals stay up for decades and benefit from periodic updates; some get painted over with new murals and messages. There is a fantastic interplay of community, values, and art on the streets. And, if graffiti destroys a piece of art that is highly valued, the community can choose to paint it again. In the school setting, it is not so easy to get rid of a mural that is offensive to so many. But, it can be digitally archived and recreated elsewhere, hopefully in a museum.

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   • dianeravitch says:

     July 6, 2019 at 8:29 am

     This particular artwork opposes racism and genocide. It doesn’t trivialize or endorse it. That’s why the urge to purge seems incomprehensible. As I wrote earlier, students will become adults and will encounter racism and bigotry. Will they be prepared to fight it? Or are you treating them as children whose eyes must be shielded?

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   • Bob Shepherd says:

     July 6, 2019 at 9:03 am

     Schools are not museums? Excuse me, but schools are in the business of transmitting to future generations knowledge and understanding of our past, just as museums are.

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     • GregB says:

       July 6, 2019 at 9:13 am

       The honorable gentleman’s remarks are indisputable!

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     • Lyndsey Schlax says:

       July 6, 2019 at 2:18 pm

       Museums are not places children are forced to go every day. There is a difference.

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     • Lloyd Lofthouse says:

       July 6, 2019 at 5:28 pm

       Lyndsey, schools are also not libraries but many schools have libraries.

       Schools are also not gyms, but many schools have gyms. Schools are also not swimming pools but many schools have swimming pools, et al.

       In fact, many schools offer art classes and the walls in those classrooms often turn into art galleries.

       There is no reason why a school can’t designate a room to become a museum that like a library can be used to educate students about the real world outside of those walls.

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     • Bob Shepherd says:

       July 6, 2019 at 5:40 pm

       It emphatically is NOT better to pretend that the genocide and slavery never happened. A school has a RESPONSIBILITY to teach that it did, to ensure that people NEVER FORGET. That is what drove this artist to create this mural in protest against a sanitized, mythologized history.

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     • Roy Turrentine says:

       July 6, 2019 at 6:57 pm

       It strikes me that schools not only have the obligation to teach that horrendous things happened in history, they have the obligation to place these things within the context of why people just like the students were at the root cause of each depredation. Causes of historical tragedy, like the study of Greek tragedy, wants our treatment in a serious way.

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9. Shouldigobackin? says:

   July 6, 2019 at 8:21 am

   I’m not part of that community. I’ve never seen the mural or had to walk past it everyday, but as an African American, images of slaves make me think of “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou. I don’t know if this school or district has put any resources toward ABAR training (Anti-Bias, Anti-Racist), but removing the mural without doing so first may not ultimately solve anything or address the real issues that impact students at the school level. (I would request a both/and here: take down the mural AND provide something that would be of benefit.) Also, if African American and Native people have not addressed their own trauma around issues, removing the mural may or may not contribute to their healing. Is the problem here really “the dead indian” in the mural or the fact that another student is so insensitive to use that kind of speech (Meet me at “the dead indian,”) and it goes unchecked?

   Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

   You may write me down in history
   With your bitter, twisted lies,
   You may trod me in the very dirt
   But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

   Does my sassiness upset you?
   Why are you beset with gloom?
   ‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
   Pumping in my living room.

   Just like moons and like suns,
   With the certainty of tides,
   Just like hopes springing high,
   Still I’ll rise.

   Did you want to see me broken?
   Bowed head and lowered eyes?
   Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
   Weakened by my soulful cries.

   Does my haughtiness offend you?
   Don’t you take it awful hard
   ‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
   Diggin’ in my own back yard.

   You may shoot me with your words,
   You may cut me with your eyes,
   You may kill me with your hatefulness,
   But still, like air, I’ll rise.

   Does my sexiness upset you?
   Does it come as a surprise
   That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
   At the meeting of my thighs?

   Out of the huts of history’s shame
   I rise
   Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
   I rise
   I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
   Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
   Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
   I rise
   Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
   I rise
   Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
   I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
   I rise
   I rise
   I rise.

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   • Bob Shepherd says:

     July 6, 2019 at 5:19 pm

     Is the problem here really “the dead indian” in the mural or the fact that another student is so insensitive to use that kind of speech (Meet me at “the dead indian,”) and it goes unchecked?

     This is really, really beautifully said.

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   • carolinesf says:

     July 6, 2019 at 10:20 pm

     When you posted “Still I Rise,” did you know that Maya Angelou actually went to Washington High in S.F., site of the mural controversy?

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10. carolcorbettburris says:

    July 6, 2019 at 8:36 am

    I faced somewhat similar situations when I was principal. A group of seniors went to Cuba with their teacher. When they returned they painted a mural with faces of Guevara and Castro on a school wall. An assistant principal and a custodian who fled Castro’s Cuba as children were deeply offended and wanted the mural removed. The mural was not removed. As I explained to them, removing the mural is what dictatorial regimes do–both on the right and the left. Wasn’t that what they were fleeing when they left?
    Years later students painted a beautiful mural depicting those who came to the rescue on 9/11. One of the moms who lost their husbands (sadly we had several) said it hurt her son to see it. We moved it to a more inconspicuous location but it remained.
    Unlike the statutes of the Confederacy which glorify the leaders of the Civil War, the school mural discussed is a critical lens that highlights hypocrisy. It provides a powerful opportunity to instruct. I think it should not be destroyed. If it can be moved to a location where it would be more welcome, that would be the best solution. If not, it should remain even if covered. A different generation may feel very differently about its presence.

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11. SomeDAM Poet says:

    July 6, 2019 at 8:36 am

    Roy made a good point about the school being very old and suggested making a museum out of it.

    How much longer will a 70+ year old school operate before it is decommissioned, anyway?

    Five years? Ten? Twenty?

    Wouldn’t it make more sense to simply “cover” the painting (with a false wall in front) until the time when the school is no longer operating?

    Perhaps the real issue here, as Roy said, is not so much painting as the fact that the school is too old.

    Perhaps a fund could be established to build a new high school and commission new muralists to produce murals that the community deems worthy.

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    • SomeDAM Poet says:

      July 6, 2019 at 8:39 am

      Make that 80+ years old

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    • dianeravitch says:

      July 6, 2019 at 8:40 am

      The statement I received said the protestors oppose either moving or covering the mural. They want it destroyed so no one ever sees it again except in a digital archive. Even if it covered for generations, it should not be left to poison the minds of future generations.

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 8:52 am

        In other words, this is about more than simply sparing high school students from disturbing and potentially hurtful images.

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 9:05 am

        Do the protestors even understand the history/context of the painting? — namely that it was an indictment of slavery and racism?

        This is all very ironic. I bet the painter is scratching his bare skull in his grave trying to figure this one out: at a significantly more racist time, he was allowed to produce a painting which was very critical of one of the founding fathers, but 80 years later, some members of the very groups whose plight he was highlighting are demanding the destruction of the painting.

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 9:25 am

        Perhaps the scariest thing about what is going on in our country right now is the profound irrationality on all sides.

        The demand to obliterate a historically significant work of art so that no one can ever again view it is simply not rational, whatever way one looks at it.

        We can survive a lot as a nation but I don’t think we can survive irrationailty because, to paraphrase Richard Feynman, reality can not be fooled.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 12:10 pm

        I agree that the mural shouldn’t be destroyed.

        My point is that people discussing it need to at least stop attacking, disparaging and sneering at the students, and that a lot of the comparisons aren’t that valid — a giant mural in the front hall of a school does have different impact from one in a museum.

        As I said, all but a few low-information observers do recognize the intent of the mural, and their point is the impact.

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      • LeftCoastTeacher says:

        July 6, 2019 at 2:06 pm

        If everyone here agrees the mural shouldn’t be destroyed, then what’s the problem? We’re all in agreement. Throw a linen over it with some blue tape and avoid literally whitewashing history.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 6:37 pm

        I’m for finding a way to cover it, something where it can be unveiled periodically. I can’t believe there’s absolutely no way to do that.

        My reason for debating about it at all is to try to clarify the viewpoints of the students in the hope that the hostility will be eased a bit.

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 5:05 pm

        LCT

        I suspect “throwing a linen over it” is precisely how this issue will be resolved. That would be a reasonable compromise to an otherwise intractable issue.

        Given the history of the painting, the San Francisco Board of Ed decision to destroy the mural will almost certainly be challenged in court.

        And it is not at all clear that SFUSD even has the legal right to dispense with the mural as they alone see fit.

        I’d bet they don’t.

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      • Bob Shepherd says:

        July 6, 2019 at 6:07 pm

        Unfortunately, SomeDAM, even living artists have very little protection against willful, malicious destruction of their work.

        https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-why-the-visual-artists-rights-act-is-failing-to-protect-street-art-and-murals

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 7:08 pm

        Bob

        What I was referring to is that the work in question was commissioned by the US government as part of the WPA, so unless they (We) gifted it to the school, it may still be owned by us, the public.

        And there are even regulations about what can and can not be done with private property that has historical significance. In my own town which has a historic district, for example local ordinances are very strict about can and can not be done to houses within the historic district, even what color they can be painted.

        I don’t know about the specifics of this case, but I would be very surprised if a school board could unilaterally decide the fate of these murals.

        Perhaps I am wrong and the school board has lawyers who looked into all this, but I somehow doubt it.

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      • LeftCoastTeacher says:

        July 6, 2019 at 7:11 pm

        I just realized throwing a linen over the paintings would be a fire hazard. So, methinks I thunk a better thought. Those paintings were done for FDR’s Works Progress Administration. The government got people some good paying jobs to improve a school with progressive art. That was a good, New Deal. How about a little bit of Green New Deal: give people some good paying jobs to move the paintings to a museum using environmentally friendly hand tools and elbow grease. Recycle. It can be done. Give more people more good paying jobs to spruce up the school with new, green artwork. This could be an opportunity instead of a problem. There might be some tech millionaires and billionaires in Silicon Valley who could pay for a little works progress with a bond.

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    • SomeDAM Poet says:

      July 6, 2019 at 8:44 am

      Given the historical significance of the painting, it would be a double shame to destroy it if the school will be closed in just a few years anyway.

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    • Bob Shepherd says:

      July 6, 2019 at 8:29 pm

      Ah, I see your point, SomeDAM. This mural belongs to the people of the United States, who paid for it. I hope that such a consideration will hold weight with the judges who will ultimately decide this matter unless, ofc, the school board makes the rash (and vandalous) decision to proceed despite the public and scholarly outcry.

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    • Roy Turrentine says:

      July 6, 2019 at 9:47 pm

      SDP: Thanks for referencing a previous comment. It would seem to me that the mural, like the one I mentioned in Ocean Spring, says more about the artist than the subject. As such, the preservation and interpretation of history becomes the paramount concern, even over the feelings of the children.

      It does strike me that the mural was initially inappropriate for a high school. Images that are very general should adorn the walls where people are apt to think generally.

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12. retired teacher says:

    July 6, 2019 at 8:58 am

    We should not “whitewash” history. A great deal of history including our history is brutal. We should own it. How else can we avoid repeating the mistakes of the past? The painting in question is a great teachable moment.

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    • Bob Shepherd says:

      July 6, 2019 at 9:04 am

      exactly

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    • Lyndsey Schlax says:

      July 6, 2019 at 2:20 pm

      The key here is the word “moment” – it is very good for a teachable moment. It is not good for eating lunch under, or walking past every day seeing people ignore it.

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13. Mamie Krupczak Allegretti says:

    July 6, 2019 at 9:05 am

    I agree with you on this one, Diane. How about having a course or a symposium of speakers come to talk about the history of the painting, the artist, the people involved , etc? How about taking the comments that students make about the painting and incorporating those into the course? That way, students could be educated about their own ignorance and hurtful words. Art is supposed to shake you up and see the world in a different way. It’s supposed to spark conversation and debate. It’s a powerful vehicle that can be used to educate IF we use it that way.

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    • SomeDAM Poet says:

      July 6, 2019 at 10:29 am

      Lessons from the Grave

      The Indian is dead
      But voice is loud a clear
      “No matter what they’ve said,
      A ‘cleansing’ happened here”

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14. ahill says:

    July 6, 2019 at 9:46 am

    I couldn’t disagree with Julie more. The drive to negate WPA artwork is authoritarian and ignorant. The Taliban destruction of the Buddhas is a perfect example of the same mentality. The WPA work is a piece of cultural history that speaks to both its own time and the time it depicts. Her argument is that visual representation of slavery in history is insulting or damaging or perhaps numbing. It is also a fact. But, I dont believe the drive to destroy rather than cover is sensitivity to students or concern for damage to them. The choice to eradicate wants it to be impossible for another generation to make a different decision at a later date. This is not an act of empathy but an act of control thru erasure. It’s exactly why so much of the art of ancient civilization has been lost to us. The powers of the time saw only themselves and not the catalogue of human existence.

    If this generation of citizens prefers not to look at the work, the wisest action would be to preserve and cover it allowing that future citizens might make a different decision based on their understanding and their proximity to events that now are compellingly close but later may be less so. The authors of erasure can not imagine that day. They think the only day that will ever matter is the one they understand. That is their flaw, myopic and authoritarian.

    We might ask what kind of education do children get in such an environment? Do they learn to encourage the at-will eradication of human history? Will they become independent thinkers who can adapt to changing circumstances and different needs? Or will they come to celebrate authoritarianism and totalism as a kind of virtue… reframing their narrow perspective as awareness? I couldn’t allow my own child to go to a school in which historically, artistically and culturally important artwork was defaced or destroyed. Such a school would teach my children the wrong things about the role and responsibility of each generation to the next and the next. Julie’s argument is fundamentally in error when she argues to refuse future generations the right and ability to make a different decision based on their own understanding. She is wrong when she says impact is more important than intention or historical and cultural record. That’s an argument for ignorance. People should not have to be troubled to learn the context of a piece or art or history. She is especially wrong when she argues that this temporary moment should decide for all the generations to come which artifacts may exist and which will be destroyed. If destruction succeeds, future generations are in the wrong hands.

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    • GregB says:

      July 6, 2019 at 9:51 am

      Excellent points all. A teacher should be able to get so many meaningful lessons out of this. It occurs to me that one not mentioned is a history about what the WPA was, why it was needed, and the unique example it provided of how state-funded art need not be state propaganda. Another legacy of FDR, a memory and historical fact the current regime and some purported members of his are trying to obliterate.

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15. Bob Shepherd says:

    July 6, 2019 at 9:48 am

    If I were Principal of this high school, I would insist that the mural remain AND have the school’s students, in their American history and literature classes, see the following texts:

    A translation of the Papal Bull “Inter Caetera”, which expounded the “Doctrine of Discovery” and supposedly gave Christians the right to claim non-Christian lands as their own simply by showing up there.
    A translation of The Requirement (El Requerimiento), which the Spanish used to justify depredations in the New World. (The Spanish would gather the natives of a village together and read out the Requirement to them in Latin. This document asked their consent to be ruled by the Church, the King, and the Queen, and if the natives could not understand it, the Spanish argued, it was because the Lord had not chosen to open their ears, whereupon the Spanish would be justified, according to the document, in slaughtering them all.)
    Passages from Bartolomé de las Casas’s A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies
    The Great Seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which depicts a Native American with a thought-balloon-style banner next to his mouth reading, “Come over and help us.”
    The passage in Bradford’s History of the Plimoth Plantation in which he describes how, on their first day on Cape Cod, in the dead of a harsh New England winter, his men stole the winter food stores from an Indian village, consigning the natives of the village to starvation, and then went back and thanked God for so bountifully providing.
    The passage from Cotton Mather’s Wonders of the Invisible World in which this leading theologian of Boston argued that “The New-Englanders are a People of God settled in those, which were once the Devil’s Territories,” “Infected and Infested with . . . Daemons.”
    The account of the Mystic Massacre of 1637, from John Underhill’s News from America; Or, A New and Experimentall Discoverie of New England; Containing, A Trve Relation of Their War-like Proceedings These Two Yeares Last Past, with a Figure of the Indian Fort, or Palizado.

    I think that these documents would provide the necessary background for discussion of the significance and meaning of that mural.

    Or, we could erase the mural and falsify and mythologize our history and pretend that it was all George Washington and the Cherry Tree.

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    • carolinesf says:

      July 6, 2019 at 10:32 am

      Bob Shepherd, that’s still missing the students’ point. Please refer to my analogy of a rape mural created as an anti-rape statement looming over my workplace.

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      • ahill says:

        July 6, 2019 at 10:55 am

        Im sure that someone is coming for Bernini’s sculptures shortly. God forbid we situate works of art and history within their cultural contexts or educate high school students to recognize them.

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      • Bob Shepherd says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:07 am

        I wouldn’t want, either, to remove a mural depicting Leda and the Swan, for all the reasons I have given above.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:08 am

        Willfully missing the point isn’t a way to discuss a complex situation with integrity.

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      • Bob Shepherd says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:15 am

        Those students who read the piece in this way haven’t learned how to read it. I get your point. I think it’s wrong. There exists no right to be protected against everything disturbing. Where, exactly, does THAT end?

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      • ahillhill says:

        July 6, 2019 at 12:12 pm

        Teach people to manage art that depicts difficult circumstances and tl learn that their feelings are only that. It’s true that we can all be triggered by circumstances that remind us of other more traumatizing experiences, but not every feeling that we have requires action on the part of others. If people want to not see these beautiful contextualized murals of resistance.. which from some points of view… are actually a tribute to voice and agency on the part of the oppressed.. then cover them for more enlightened or less sensitive times. But, teach definitely that not everything that you have feelings about is the responsibility of other parties. Take responsibility for your own feelings; the world doesn’t owe it to you to help you avoid discomfort.

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16. carolinesf says:

    July 6, 2019 at 10:15 am

    Speaking from San Francisco, I think this mural is going to need to be covered (because it can’t be moved) one way or the other, and I deeply hope it won’t be destroyed. To me, a movable cover — curtains or panels — is going to have to be the solution. The situation is genuinely troubling and genuinely complex.

    I see a lot of uncomprehension going on, and the students who are currently raising the issue have been insulted, disparaged and sneered at nationwide (the comment above mine refers to their “ignorance and hurtful words,” and their view is being called “profound irrationality”). A New York Times column sneered at them as “snowflakes,” and there’s lots more sneering in the national conversation about their being “triggered” and their “hurt feelings.”

    Those speaking up for saving the mural need to do better, in my opinion — or maybe both sides do, since with all this, I still feel like I need to clarify the positions.

    This is more of a genuine quandary than people seeing this from afar grasp.

    Yes, except for possibly a few low-information observers, the people objecting to the mural understand that it’s a statement opposing slavery and oppression, just to clear that up. As Julie said, it’s the impact, not the intent, that’s the issue.

    Comparing this to destroying history, erasing negative images from books, book-burning and so on isn’t helpful. The comparison to paintings of Castro and Che Guevara isn’t terribly apt either. And this isn’t the same as seeing disturbing images in a museum or a book. In those cases, we’re not seeing images that loom over a school’s main hall, dominating a spot where students pass and linger multiple times a day. So calling it a teachable moment misses that point.

    A better comparison would be if a huge, historic feminist mural at my workplace showed images of women being raped, as an anti-rape statement, and and it loomed over the work environment every day.

    Outside the Legion of Honor art museum in San Francisco, a bit removed from the museum, there’s a permanent installation that’s a sculpture representing Jews in Nazi death camps. It provoked a lot of controversy when it was created and installed, because it’s disturbing — and it’s not looming over anyone’s school or workplace every day (except that museum employees may pass it on their way in and out of work), so its impact is nowhere near comparable.

    (Also, I was shocked to see discussion of Washington High as likely to be torn down — where did that come from? — but I see Some Dam Poet is just wrongly inferring that from the age of the building. Washington is a beautiful venerable building atop a hill — you can see it shining there from much of the city (and it has glorious views of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge). To me it’s an icon of a time when our schools and public institutions were revered, as are many other older classic school buildings in San Francisco. There are certainly no plans to tear it down.)

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    Reply
    • carolinesf says:

      July 6, 2019 at 10:46 am

      Oh, and the Taliban comparisons — please — that isn’t helpful either.

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      Reply
      • GregB says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:47 am

        Too much on target? As apt an analogy as there is.

        LikeLiked by 1 person

      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 12:11 pm

        Comparing activist students of color to the Taliban really isn’t an effective way to make a point.

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      • GregB says:

        July 6, 2019 at 1:07 pm

        I’m not comparing the students, I’m comparing you. You should know better.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 3:25 pm

        I’m opposed to destroying the murals, so I don’t really think I resemble the Taliban either. And someone else here did compare the students.

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    • SomeDAM Poet says:

      July 6, 2019 at 11:08 am

      I’m sorry if you and others are offended by my calling the insistence on destroying a painting rather than covering it (as I suggested) “profound irrationailty”, but that is precisely what it is.

      Denying the reality does not change it.

      There is quite clearly something going on here that goes well beyond the desire to “shield” high school students from hurtful images and I somehow don’t believe that high school students are behind the move to destroy the painting.

      And PS I did not suggest the building be torn down. In fact I suggested it be made into a museum.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:10 am

        It was this comment of yours: “it would be a double shame to destroy it if the school will be closed in just a few years anyway.” I don’t know that you were suggesting that the building should be torn down but rather assuming that it would, so I wanted to clarify that situation (too).

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:11 am

        It’s not that I’m offended; I’m saying that hurling a barrage of insults and sneers at the students who are raising this issue is counterproductive and not an effective way to make the case.

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:16 am

        Your suggestion that I assumed the building would or should be torn down is itself irrational

        Tearing down the building would sort of defeat the purpose of preserving the painting, would it not?

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:19 am

        Oh, and also, yes, high school students ARE behind this — it’s also kind of insulting to them to act like they couldn’t be.

        Of course there are many local discussions going on about this too. From my local Nextdoor, here what one neighborhood crank said about the students who raised this issue:

        “Zombies suffering brain rot from never thinking ? Triggly Puffs who riot, curse, protest ,and behave like little children when they don’t get their way ?”

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:25 am

        SDP, you just assumed the school would be closed, so maybe not torn down. I wasn’t being irrational; I read your comment as an assumption that the building would be torn down. In any case, I’m pointing out that there are no such plans.

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:37 am

        I’ll repost my above comment so you can read what I actually said

        “The demand to obliterate a historically significant work of art so that no one can ever again view it is simply not rational, whatever way one looks at it.

        If you believe it IS rational to call for the painting’s destruction when there actually exists the option that would be very cheap and achieve the goal of shielding high school students from hurtful images, please explain the logic behind your belief.

        I am open to having my claim that the demand is not rational proved irrational.

        But until that happens, I will simply have to say that denying what is (to me at least) a clearly irrational demand does not help any more than obliterating a painting that is a searing indictment of racism, slavery and genocide.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 12:36 pm

        SDP, I was referring to your saying I was irrational to infer that you thought the building was destined to be torn down. Now I see that you said “decommissioned.” I wasn’t discussing rationality or irrationality in regard to your views about the students. In any case, I think I’ve made my point as well as I can — activist students did raise this issue and made their case to the school board, and whatever our view of saving the art vs. covering the art vs. destroying the art, the students are making a case based on more than just wanting to deny unpleasant history, and they shouldn’t be sneered at, disparaged, insulted and so forth. (And they very much are being sneered at, disparaged and insulted, from all sides.)

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 1:39 pm

        Carolinesf

        Not incidentally, I made it quite clear that my “beef” was actually not with the students’ concern about being subjected to hurtful images but with the demand to destroy the mural, which was “codified” (at least) by the adults on the school board.

        So it’s not really even clear what your argument is with me, since you also stated that you are opposed to destroying the painting.

        So we seem to be in incorrigible agreement on the main issue.😀

        But to say that it is unhelpful to call the destruction demand irrational is actually itself not helpful because, short of pointing out the absurdity and unreasonableness of the demand, what is going to make the school board (not the students, the adults on the school board) reconsider their irrational ruling? From a legal standpoint, it is the school board ruling that matters at this point. And that was made by adults who should certainly know better.

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 1:46 pm

        Then again, given the historical significance of the mural, I suppose a law suit against the school board to stop the destruction might be even more effective than pointing out the irrational nature of their ruling.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 2:33 pm

        A lawsuit is likely.

        I’m trying to clarify the nuances behind the issue. I’m not keeping careful track of who in the discussion made each point, so my apologies if I sound like I’m being argumentative and you can’t tell whom the target is.

        SDP, your question originally was: “Do the protestors even understand the history/context of the painting? — namely that it was an indictment of slavery and racism?” It’s a question that has come up repeatedly, and so I keep answering it. (Yes, except for maybe a few low-information observers, they do.)

        And, again, I’ve been objecting to the insults and sneers hurled at the students. Most people here aren’t hurling them, but some are. And correcting some misunderstandings. Yes, the issues were raised by students. No, they weren’t raised by white people.

        True that the SFUSD BOE makes the decision.

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 2:33 pm

        Hey, at least I did not call the proposed destruction

        A Gross violation of logic and sense” like 140 scholars just did.

        In a recent vote, the board of the San Francisco Unified School District voted unanimously to destroy the murals. To repeat: they voted to destroy a significant monument of anti-racism. This is a gross violation of logic and sense.”
        Open Letter From Nearly 140 Scholars Implores SF School Board Not to Destroy Historic Mural
        “Let’s stand up for the integrity of art as well as for historical interpretation, and for a shared analysis of the political reality of the United States in the past and the present.”
        https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/05/gross-violation-logic-and-sense-open-letter-nearly-140-scholars-implores-sf-school

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 2:49 pm

        Something that seems to be missing from this debate is who actually owns the mural in question?

        It is possible that it was a gift from the people of the United States to the school district in question, but it is also possible that We The People of the United States still own it, which means the decision about what is to be done with it is not the school board’s to make.

        And actually, given the historical significance, I’d have to say that even if San Francisco Unified School district technically owns it, they don’t have the exclusive right to determine its fate.

        I’d bet that the San Francisco Historical society may also have something to say about this.

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 2:58 pm

        Of course, if this is actually an effort by the San Francisco school board to get people to pony up funds to move the painting, I would have to take back my “irrational” charge and say that their approach is brilliant because the media coverage that their “destruction” decision has generated is phenomenal.

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 3:11 pm

        Carolinesf

        I think you have a thinner skin than most high school students.

        When I was in high school, I would have considered it a badge of honor if adults called my actions irrational. And it would have made me even more determined to do whatever they were calling irrational.

        On the other hand, adults (eg, on school board) don’t like to be called irrational and will go to great lengths to be considered reasonable rational even if they are not.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 3:35 pm

        SDP, if you’d followed my battles over charters and education “reform” issues over the years, I’m pretty sure you’d disagree that I have a thin skin — I’ve stood there and taken all kinds of attacks, and fought back. If you believed them, I’m a teachers’ union lackey and defender of the failed status quo, not to mention a racist who doesn’t think black and brown children can learn, and on and on and on. I won’t even get into the Edison Schools champion back in 2001 or so who created a logon for a listserve — in response to my posting facts challenging the Edison propaganda — (profanity alert): “CarolineTakesItUpTheAss.” And that’s aside from my challenges to management as a union activist in real life. When I was arguing for a young member not to have to take a pay cut that management thought it would get away with, the HR director snarled, “You’re so aggressive! You’re always so aggressive!” and then told other management that I was “unprofessional.” (But they didn’t cut the member’s pay after all.)

        But anyway. No, I just think it’s important to reflect the real issues in this discussion, and it seems like the students’ concerns are being dismissed, ignored or misunderstood.

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 3:57 pm

        I used to live in Utah and the presumption by the San Francisco school board to unilaterally decide what happens to a mural commissioned by the US Federal government actually reminds me of the attitude of some of the people in Utah state and county government toward Federal lands.

        Namely, they thought — and still think — they had the right to decide by themselves what happened to lands rightfully belonging to the American people. They thought they did, but of course, they did/do not.

        It strikes me that the debate over the fate of the mural in question is NOT just an issue to be decided by local CA or even state government. All of us would seem to have a stake in this issue.

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 4:05 pm

        But of course, no one asked me what I thought when the decision was made to destroy the mural.

        If they had, I would have told them that it was profoundly irrational to destroy it when there was a perfectly reasonable option.😀

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 5:59 pm

        Not incidentally, the decision to destroy the painting was entirely the San Francisco School Board’s. They actually considered three options and no one forced them to make the decision they did.

        They alone own the irrational decision.

        https://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/Fate-of-controversial-SF-high-school-mural-down-14008090.php

        And they are all adults who should certainly know better.

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      • Lloyd Lofthouse says:

        July 6, 2019 at 8:50 pm

        Just because the SF school board are all adults does not make them mature and rational. I’ve known children who were more mature and rational than many adults I’ve dealt with.

        In fact, I have met eight to ten-year-olds that would make a better president than the last eight or nine counting DT twice since the orange idiot counts as two of the worst presidents in the history of the planet.

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 9:50 pm

        Just because the SF school board are all adults does not make them mature and rational. ”

        Clearly.

        The same school board also voted to allocate $600,000 to paint over the 1600 square foot mural (over 3 years!)

        Based on my painting experience, I can say with certainty that there is something seriously wrong with such a high estimate simply to paint over 1600 square feet of wall area. And it sure as hell would not take 3 years. I once painted 2000 square feet of ceiling in 4 hours with a power roller , so where they got their crazy estimate is anyone’s guess.

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      • Lloyd Lofthouse says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:25 pm

        I live in the bay area and a neighbor across the street has his own painting business and I’m sure he’d use his spray painter and have it done in a couple of hours for less than $10k but would be more than willing to accept the $600k if the SF school board really wanted to pay that much.

        $600k!!!

        Really!!!

        I think that the SF school board needs to be investigated for fraud or other white-collar crimes. If they voted to pay that much to paint over 1,600 square feet of wall, they are crooked as Lombard Street and just as dangerous when driving too fast.

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      • maestramalinche says:

        July 7, 2019 at 12:10 am

        The $600,000 is the price for covering the mural, I believe, not painting it. I may be wrong. If there were an easier or cheaper solution to move the mural, it would likely have been done by now. None of these decisions have been easily, and the process has been long. Many native and black youth, along with elders were an integral part of the process, as it should be. My understanding is that Native Americans and African Americans were not consulted as part of the process of the original concept of the mural itself; even as the muralist intended to show their subjugation. My understanding is that many Native Americans and African Americans, as the oppressed subjects of the mural, have vehemently disagreed with how they are treated in the mural since at least the 60s if not before. Many of the comments I’m reading on these threads indicate that the commentators believe that the African Americans and Native Americans who have fought the hardest to remove this mural do not understand the mural’s intent and must be ignorant of our country’s history. This is a great misunderstanding of the opposition to the mural. If we want to right the injustices that began with the formation of this country, we may want to listen more intently to the survivors of the genocides to understand their perspectives more clearly. A lot of assumptions are being made here about people being ignorant of the mural’s intent or ignorant of American history. I think that we can all be a lot more open to perspectives and lives lived that are not our own here.

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      • Lloyd Lofthouse says:

        July 7, 2019 at 1:20 am

        “My understanding is that Native Americans and African Americans were not consulted as part of the process of the original concept of the mural itself; even as the muralist intended to show their subjugation.”

        When was the mural painted? Context is also based on the time period and how most people thought/behaved at that time.

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      • maestramalinche says:

        July 7, 2019 at 2:13 am

        Lloyd, the newspaper articles claim it was painted 83 years ago. As someone suggested here (was it you?), if it was commissioned and paid for under the WPA, it may belong more to the federal government than to San Francisco or our public schools. The Ohlone and other tribal members have stated that white settlers are living on stolen land here in SF and that the mural has several misrepresentations of Native American culture (stereotypes and offensive imagery of death). This is all part of the rich context as well.

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      • Lloyd Lofthouse says:

        July 7, 2019 at 1:38 pm

        It wasn’t Lloyd that said the WPA paid for the mural.

        As for, “The Ohlone and other tribal members have stated that white settlers are living on stolen land here in SF and that the mural has several misrepresentations of Native American culture (stereotypes and offensive imagery of death). This is all part of the rich context as well.”

        How wrong can the Ohlone and other tribal members be when the mural depicts George Washington’s slaves on his estate at Mount Vernon on the East Coast in the 18th century decades before California joined the United States in 1850?

        How does that mural depict California’s Native culture in the 18th century? It does not.

        George Washington died in 1799, and Washington is alive and well in the mural.

        Mount Vernon is 13 miles south of Washington DC.

        Click the following link and look at all three images to see the entire mural. That image does not represent San Francisco or California. George Washington never set foot in California or San Francisco. The Native Indians in that mural, depict East Coast Natives. There are British Red Coats. As far as we know, this Mural depicts colonial North America before the United States became a nation.

        https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/05/gross-violation-logic-and-sense-open-letter-nearly-140-scholars-implores-sf-school

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      • maestramalinche says:

        July 7, 2019 at 2:07 pm

        Lloyd, I think it’s important to respect Native and Black voices in this matter of the mural. I did not say that the Ohlone are the only ones calling for the mural to be taken down from the halls of the schools and that their culture is the same as the Eastern tribes from the 18th century. Native Americans have much to say about how they are portrayed in media, art, literature, propaganda and murals. Here is one Native American commentator that you might read. He concludes his article with the following:

        “If, after all, the perceived intent of “Life of Washington” is to educate each viewer as well as stimulate, then the emotional response I garner from reviewing it feels awfully close to my weekday reading, and I do not envy for a second the Native student that has to walk past a mural every day and see that bloody history splattered on the walls.”

        https://splinternews.com/bari-weiss-steps-over-native-voices-to-own-the-libs-1836017592?fbclid=IwAR3tCDVo31hin7W5LqRTHyHZ6MzO2VJtjBu1LvPlHjKqWGY5KJnOuZyv_HA

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      • Lloyd Lofthouse says:

        July 7, 2019 at 2:34 pm

        “I do not envy for a second the Native student that has to walk past a mural every day and see that bloody history splattered on the walls.”

        Yea, let’s bury the “bloody history” and forget about it. Just like Trump wants to bury the Holocaust as if it never happened.

        Images that remind us of that bloody history also remind of the choices we have now an in the future to avoid another bloody history.

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 7, 2019 at 9:27 am

        $600k is indeed for painting over the mural, not simply covering it up. Apparently they expect some law suits. Good luck with that. My guess is $600k won’t go far. Or maybe the school board will represent themselves since they are such geniuses. Ha ha ha.

        And if the Federal government (ie we the People) owns the mural, there is no way the SF School board should — or will — be allowed to destroy it.

        The school board that made the decision to destroy it is utterly irrational — and make no mistake, the final decision — to DESTROY rather than cover — was the school board’s alone, NOT that of the students, many of whom actually oppose destroying it (and have no legally binding say, at any rate).

        It is simply inaccurate to claim or imply that the students are “behind” the decision to DESTROY it. They are NOT. That responsibility belongs to the school board alone, which considered 3 options (two to cover it up and one to destroy) and chose the stupid option.

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      • Lloyd Lofthouse says:

        July 7, 2019 at 1:04 pm

        Why did the SF school board cave into the criticism and not listen to the students that were not critical of the mural?

        “You suck! Why criticism is more powerful than praise” …

        “The greater potency of criticism isn’t just a learned response; research suggests that there’s an actual neurological bias our brains exhibit, placing more importance on negative stimuli, eg criticism. It’s a very persistent bias. We’ve evolved to respond quickly and strongly to negative stimuli, and have dedicated brain regions like the amygdala, which encodes the emotional component (eg fear) of an experience so that it remains potent and we can rapidly learn from it.”

        https://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2014/may/09/you-suck-why-criticism-is-more-powerful-than-praise

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    • Bob Shepherd says:

      July 6, 2019 at 11:10 am

      “Comparing this to destroying history . . . isn’t terribly apt either.”

      Destroying this mural is LITERALLY destroying not only a piece of art but an important historical artifact.

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      Reply
      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:15 am

        You didn’t quote my complete sentence, which kind of distorts what I was saying. Of course I realize that the mural is important art and a historic artifact. I’m saying that there’s a distinct situation here that needs to be recognized, so many of those comparisons aren’t really parallel.

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      • Bob Shepherd says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:18 am

        So, “Comparing this to destroying history” is not the subject, in that sentence, of “isn’t helpful”? I don’t see any possible reading in which that isn’t so. Gerund phrase . . . verb phrase.

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      • Bob Shepherd says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:23 am

        I worked once for an educational publishing house that had an in-house style sheet that said there were to be no references in our texts to DNA. I spoke to my then supervisor about this. She explained that such references would be disturbing to the fundamentalist parents and students who associated discussions of DNA with the theory of evolution. Sorry. Not buying it.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:21 am

        Now we’re hairsplitting. I’m pointing out that a mural looming over a high school main hall isn’t a situation comparable to an artifact in a museum.

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      • Bob Shepherd says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:24 am

        No. I would argue that its presence in the school is EVEN MORE important and valuable because it takes this subject of valuable discourse (and valuable controversy) into the public arena.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:26 am

        What do you think of my hypothetical analogy of an anti-rape mural showing rapes looming over my workplace?

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      • Bob Shepherd says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:38 am

        A workplace is usually not dedicated, in part, to transmission of understanding of history and art, so I do not think the analogy works. Certainly, if your place of work owned Titian’s “Leda and the Swan,” I wouldn’t support having it painted over with smiley faces proclaiming that “There is no I in TEAM.” The way to deal with an unpleasant history, ESPECIALLY IN A SCHOOL, is not silence about it but direct (and, yes, disturbing) engagement with that history, which this work occasions.

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      • Bob Shepherd says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:38 am

        Some truths aren’t pretty but are too important to be left unsaid by institutions of learning.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:29 am

        And, let me note that I strongly agree that the mural shouldn’t be destroyed, for all the reasons Diane and others are bringing up. But seeing the students who are pushing this issue sneered at and disparaged nationwide (and yes, they are students) has prompted me to urge people to treat them with respect and seriously consider their perspective. Is it really thoughtful to sneer at activist students and call them fascists and snowflakes and the Taliban?

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:41 am

        What if my hypothetical feminist anti-rape mural depicting rapes were in a school front hall?

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      • Bob Shepherd says:

        July 6, 2019 at 12:06 pm

        Knowing high-school kids and their extreme ignorance and immaturity about sexual matters and, in particular, about consent, I would find such a mural in such a place questionable. However, in the case of this other mural, I think that high-school kids are old enough to grapple with the relevant issues. And, I would have to see the particular mural. The readiness is all.

        Years ago, an organization called–if my memory serves me right–Men against Domestic Violence–unveiled, in front of the Vietnam War Memorial a list of women killed by men in acts of sexual and domestic violence in the US during the period of US involvement in Vietnam. There were more names on that list than on the memorial. Should a photograph of that piece of public performance art hang in a pubic high school? Absolutely, because schools are there to educate.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:43 am

        And this IS direct engagement. We’re having a long discussion about it here, and similar discussions are going on in forums all over the place. The students spoke up and voiced their opinion, made their case and started a sh*tstorm. What would you have had them do?

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      • Bob Shepherd says:

        July 6, 2019 at 12:07 pm

        I’m all in favor of the storm. That’s democracy in action. And I’m all in favor of keeping the mural.

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      • GregB says:

        July 6, 2019 at 12:08 pm

        “Some truths aren’t pretty but are too important to be left unsaid by institutions of learning.”

        In the immortal words of Goober Pyle, “Say it agin’.”

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      • Bob Shepherd says:

        July 6, 2019 at 12:08 pm

        And you are absolutely right that these students shouldn’t be sneered at. That’s terrible.

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      • Bob Shepherd says:

        July 6, 2019 at 12:11 pm

        Years ago, Christopher Frye wrote a response to a negative review of another playwright’s first play. He said–I hope I’m getting this right–you shouldn’t make fun of an acorn for not yet being an oak. Those students’ anger is wonderful. It needs to be nourished and fed real information, not some falsified, prettified, mythologized version of history. There are things they don’t yet understand. This is an opportunity to teach them.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 12:17 pm

        Well, the students have been hit with a barrage of insults in this discussion — fascists, the Taliban, lots more. (Plus they’ve kind of been shoved aside and disempowered by an opinion that students aren’t behind this at all.) And in my opinion, the slippery-slope stuff disparages them too — what’s next, book burning, so on and so on?

        So we agree that the students shouldn’t be sneered at, or presumably insulted — and that in fact they should be applauded for starting this debate, for their involvement and activism and, yes, courage (after all, they did invite a nationwide barrage of insults and sneeres aimed at them). And that’s really my point.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 12:17 pm

        *sneers

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      • Bob Shepherd says:

        July 6, 2019 at 12:23 pm

        I agree with you entirely that their activism should be applauded and harnessed. Blessings on them for this! It comes from a really good place. As a teacher, I must say that I am blown away by the current generation of kids. I certainly don’t see them as snowflakes. I am continually amazed and heartened by how woke they are, and how angry that we’ve made such a mess of things–that we’ve elected a moronic, racist president, that we are in the process of wrecking our environment, that we’ve allowed rampant abuse of women and girls. These kids give me hope. But they are kids, and when they aren’t understanding something, it’s our job, respectfully, and honoring their anger, to help them to do that.

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      • LeftCoastTeacher says:

        July 6, 2019 at 2:07 pm

        What Bob wrote at 12:23.

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    • carolinesf says:

      July 6, 2019 at 2:20 pm

      GregB you may not be, but at least one poster here likened those calling for the mural’s destruction (who are high school students, to be clear) to the Taliban. I objected. You said it was apt. Even if you didn’t mean to, you did compare the students to the Taliban, and I’m saying that isn’t an effective or righteous way to discuss this. (A Trumpy poster in a Facebook group called ME the Taliban just for explaining what the students’ issue is.)

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      • GregB says:

        July 6, 2019 at 7:02 pm

        Please don’t tell this “low information voter” what he meant.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 7:13 pm

        I didn’t refer to you as “low-information.” I was referring to people who don’t grasp that the mural intentionally showed the dark side of George Washington. And now I see that you said you were referring to me when you said Taliban, just like that guy in a Facebook group. OK then!

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      • GregB says:

        July 6, 2019 at 8:33 pm

        Show me where I referred to you as Taliban. I commented on your comment where OTHERS referred to you as such and found it to be apt. I just think you are…well, I’ll keep it to myself. Just glad my children are nowhere in range of you.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 10:25 pm

        carolinesf
        July 6, 2019 at 10:46 am
        Oh, and the Taliban comparisons — please — that isn’t helpful either.
        Reply

        GregB
        July 6, 2019 at 11:47 am
        

        Too much on target? As apt an analogy as there is.

        carolinesf
        July 6, 2019 at 12:11 pm
        Comparing activist students of color to the Taliban really isn’t an effective way to make a point.

        GregB
        July 6, 2019 at 1:07 pm
        I’m not comparing the students, I’m comparing you. You should know better.

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      • Lloyd Lofthouse says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:21 pm

        I do not think the Taliban is a good comparison to “anyone” except the opposite end of the spectrum – like neo-nazi, white supremacist militias in Montana and Idaho.

        The Taliban are extremists that bury women accused of adultery (often without any proof) and then stone them to death. In fact, they force everyone in that woman’s family and village to throw stones at her still living head that is exposed above ground until she is long dead.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 10:33 pm

        I participate in discussions (and debate) here pretty much expecting people to be civil and recognize that when we disagree, it’s about an issue, not because we hate each other. So this is getting kind of disconcerting:

        “I just think you are…well, I’ll keep it to myself. Just glad my children are nowhere in range of you.”

        I’m not a teacher; I’m a longtime parent activist. I’ve actually done a lot of volunteer work to help and support kids and I really don’t damage them.

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      • GregB says:

        July 6, 2019 at 10:55 pm

        “Show me where I referred to you as Taliban. I commented on your comment where OTHERS referred to you as such and found it to be apt.”

        Reading comprehension. Again, show me where I referred to you as Taliban.

        You are the perfect example of the my belief that political spectrums are not linear right-to-left. They are circular and the extremes overlap. You either stand up for truth and education or you don’t. You don’t.

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17. Yvonne says:

    July 6, 2019 at 11:17 am

    Oh my goodness … how ridiculous. The trends in this country show me the fascists are scared. They want to make everything antiseptic and shift blame to those who have no power and money, like them.

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    • carolinesf says:

      July 6, 2019 at 11:22 am

      Most people seem to be blaming this on “triggered” “snowflake” leftists. It would be more helpful to pay attention and learn about the situation before commenting.

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18. Akademos says:

    July 6, 2019 at 12:35 pm

    No one should be calling people snowflakes.

    And no one should perpetrate cultural abuses in the name of cultural sensitivity. (Oh, good afternoon, Richard Carranza.)

    However, if I were legally or economically obligated, so to speak, to be somewhere on a daily basis, and that place had a big picture of Trump or an ancestor lying dead, I would have issues, regardless of the statement or the significance of the work.

    But avoidable destruction would be an abuse.

    Archiving? Why not precise recreation?

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    • Akademos says:

      July 6, 2019 at 1:14 pm

      Re-creation — you what I mean!

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    • Akademos says:

      July 6, 2019 at 1:17 pm

      Re-creation — you know what I mean!

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    • SomeDAM Poet says:

      July 6, 2019 at 2:21 pm

      I what you mean

      And it’s good to see you back.

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      • Akademos says:

        July 6, 2019 at 2:30 pm

        Thank you, SDP!

        Good to see you!

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19. Lyndsey says:

    July 6, 2019 at 12:55 pm

    Julie is absolutely correct. The mural isn’t being used by anyone to teach. You’re not coming to visit it. It can’t end up in a museum, and so there it is. It’s hurting children. It’s hurting teachers. It’s casual existence, and the history of students saying “let’s meet for lunch under the dead Indian” hurt education.

    I almost wish a group of students would just paint it down themselves, for free. Boom, done. Replace it with amazing student created art about the power of community in government and education – I know the Board of Ed can’t encourage that, but it would save the district $600,000, and be much more grassroots than any other response from here.

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    • Bob Shepherd says:

      July 6, 2019 at 8:05 pm

      Well, that would be criminal, wouldn’t it?

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      • GregB says:

        July 6, 2019 at 10:57 pm

        T’would.

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20. GregB says:

    July 6, 2019 at 1:10 pm

    I know as we rule we don’t blame the teachers. But the teachers at this school have blown it. They had great opportunities for many exceptional teaching moments and seemed to missed them completely.

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21. Lloyd Lofthouse says:

    July 6, 2019 at 1:10 pm

    What do I think about removing a mural that actually dipicts a side of George Washington that is ignored?

    George Washington first became a slave owner at the early age of eleven. He spoke frequently of his desire to end the practice, but he waited until the end of his life to free his slaves. At the time of his death, Mount Vernon had an enslaved population of 317 people. … On numerous occasions, people enslaved by the Washington household ran away in an attempt to regain their freedom. …

    George Washington left instructions in his will to emancipate the people enslaved by him, upon the death of Martha Washinton … but neither George nor Martha Washington could free the Custus dower slaves, more than half of Mount Vernon’s slave population. Only 123 slaves of the 317 belonged to George Washington and were given their freedom.

    https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/slavery/ten-facts-about-washington-slavery/

    How about George Washington being responsible for killing Native Americans?

    “… in 1779—he instructed Major General John Sullivan to attack Iroquois people. He said, ‘lay waste all the settlements around… that the country may not be merely overrun, but destroyed.’ In the course of the carnage and annihilation of Indian people, Washington also instructed his general not to ‘listen to any overture of peace before the total ruin of their settlements is effected.’

    “His anti-Indian sentiments were again made clear in 1783 when he compared Indians with wolves, saying ‘Both being beast of prey, tho’ they differ in shape.’ After a defeat, Washington’s troops would skin the bodies of Iroquois from the hips down to make boot tops or leggings. Those who survived called the first president, “Town Destroyer.” Within a five-year period, 28 of 30 Seneca towns had been destroyed.”

    https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/george-washington-letter-describes-killing-of-natives-as-villainy-PgAwRp8W2keW1wCvAe1TYw/

    I think the mural should stay and the students should be taught who George Washington really was. He was human. He had a good side and a dark side. We should not erase his dark side.

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    • carolinesf says:

      July 6, 2019 at 1:28 pm

      I don’t think you can come to the conclusion that the teachers have failed. The student activists (a subset of students, not all students) have a deeply felt point of view and have stuck to it under a nationwide barrage of hostility, insults and sneers. As a teacher, would you feel you’d failed if your students behaved in that way?

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      • Lloyd Lofthouse says:

        July 6, 2019 at 2:03 pm

        “As a teacher, would you feel you’d failed if your students behaved in that way?”

        Actually, I would feel that I had succeeded if the students that wanted to get rid of a mural that depicted the honest dark side of George Washington were willing to debate those that didn’t want the mural to go. During the debate, both sides would reveal who George Washington really was and not the myth that many only want to believe. Then as a teacher, I would have all the students write essays about what they learned and what they think about what they learned.

        Revising history means we erase the truths we don’t like.

        For instance, every time Trump repeats one of his lies, he is attempting to do exactly that, create a record that says what he wants people to remember.

        “President Trump’s torrent of misleading statements and flat-out lies has an army of journalists working 24/7 to set the record straight. To help those who focus, as we do, on climate, energy, and other environmental issues, NRDC will call out Trump whenever he distorts the facts about such matters. Here, we offer our inaugural edition of Trump Lies. We expect to update it regularly.”

        https://www.nrdc.org/trump-lies

        Another example has to do with the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325. This was when it was decided to create an image of Jesus Christ as God the Son, a divine creature and not one that was human.

        “Council of Nicaea, also called First Council of Nicaea, (325), the first ecumenical council of the Christian church, meeting in ancient Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey). It was called by the emperor Constantine I, an unbaptized catechumen, who presided over the opening session and took part in the discussions. He hoped a general council of the church would solve the problem created in the Eastern church by Arianism, a heresy first proposed by Arius of Alexandria that affirmed that Christ is not divine but a created being. Pope Sylvester I did not attend the council but was represented by legates.” …

        https://www.britannica.com/event/Council-of-Nicaea-Christianity-325

        How many facts that lead to the truth are buried when we let emotion make decisions like destroying this mural.

        Imagine if Trump and his supporters had the power to destroy the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum because they didn’t want to believe the Nazi holocaust ever happened.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 2:23 pm

        In the bigger picture, Lloyd, if your students took a principled position, engaged in an activist campaign, and stuck to their position under a barrage of hostility, insults and sneering, you wouldn’t at least kind of admire that — even if you didn’t agree with their principled position? As opposed to admiring students who displayed obedience and agreeability?

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      • Lloyd Lofthouse says:

        July 6, 2019 at 2:46 pm

        Huh?

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 3:38 pm

        OK, I guess I give up on that if I’m not making sense. My view is that most teachers who are in line with my general philosophy would admire their students’ activism and principle, even if they disagreed with the students on issues.

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    • carolinesf says:

      July 6, 2019 at 1:33 pm

      Are you grasping the entire discussion, though, Lloyd? Sorry to be redundant, but let me recap.

      Putting aside a few low-information observers who really don’t get the complexities, the student activists recognize that the mural is about illustrating George Washington’s dark side.

      Their issue is that a mural in the front hall of their school showing African-Americans and Native Americans as oppressed, enslaved and butchered — in the front hall where students pass through, linger and gather regularly — is painful and oppressive to students who are African-American and Native American.

      The discussion needs to start with a clear recognition of the students’ case. It’s a misunderstanding to believe that their issue is that they don’t want to be taught who George Washington really was.

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      • Lloyd Lofthouse says:

        July 6, 2019 at 2:14 pm

        Another option would be to build a new main entrance to the high school and turn the old entrance with the mural into a separate room that was a museum that included room for other historical art.

        I know this can be done. It would probably mean removing a classroom that faces the main street and moving the entrance to that room and turning that room into a lobby that feeds into the main hallway.

        That way when students come to school, they do not have to look at that mural as they walk by it because it would be in another room where teachers could take their classes to discuss what the mural and other artwork that represents U.S. history that would be on display means. And all of the new artwork would be student-generated in art classes. In fact, every year would display the artwork from the year before that was created during a joint project between English, history and art teachers.

        We must learn from the past and not erase it. Instead of destroying this mural, turn it into a learning experience that never ends.

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 9:30 pm

        Great idea, Lloyd

        Given that the school board already allocated $600k to paint over the mural, they probably wouldn’t even have to allocate more for what you suggest.

        $600k and three years to paint over only 1600 square feet of wall?

        I’ve done enough renovationainting and painting to know that that is just completely absurd.

        This school board seems to be making one bad decision after another.

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22. Brandee says:

    July 6, 2019 at 1:16 pm

    Diane, the mural is in my backyard. And to a broad coalition of Black, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Latinx, families came out to a packed school board meeting to demand that it be removed. I was at the school board meeting when this was discussed. And time after time I heard so many Black and Indigenous students and parents say how insulting it was to hear white people try to tell them that the mural was for their benefit. It made me think of the same attitude that drove the movement to establish Native American boarding schools. Or Betsy DeVos saying that charter schools are good for our public education system.

    According to the San Francisco Chronicle, for the past 50 years, the by-line at this school has been, “I’ll meet you by the [painting of the] dead Indian. Imagine how hearing that on the first day of school might feel to a 14-year-old Native child. Students of color who dare talk about how much they dislike this mural are bullied by their white peers. To us, framing this as a censorship argument makes zero sense, as mural opponents want the mural to be digitally archived so students around the world can study it. Do most people leading censorship campaigns advocate for this?

    Another question for you: have you had the opportunity to see the mural with a person who has an in-depth understanding of Native American history? As scholars and educators, isn’t it incumbent upon us to do our research and talk to people in the communities who are impacted by writing? There are racist stereotypes and historical inaccuracies in this mural. Students can subliminally absorb those through the limbic area of the brain, which often overrides the prefrontal cortex.

    Also, your prescription as mural as an effective teaching tool is an ableist one, and it unknowingly excludes the needs of students with cognitive learning disabilities and diagnosed anxiety disorders who may not be able to able to process the mural in the way you are describing. As sister of person with autism, this is very apparent to me.

    Systems of oppression – and that includes oppressive art – often are invisible to those who benefit from them. Many of us who are fans of yours were appalled at your work to implement George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind in our schools. You had so much courage to do a 180 and come out and lead a national movement to eliminate high stakes testing. Not many are brave enough to do this. Because of your courage, many San Francisco parents are in the early stages of organizing to lead a high-stakes testing opt-out campaign.

    In San Francisco we are also fighting charter school takeovers from KIPP and other actors. Our school board – unlike L.A.’s – is staunch in its opposition to charter school takeovers. And it has been surreal for us to see an online mob of people – 99.9% of whom have never seen the mural – defend art with racist stereotypes. We are saddened when people – Breitbart included – take to the internet, full of anger, and defend property over the lives of Black and Brown students.

    Diane, parents and students in the San Francisco Unified School District are looking to you to summon the same kind of courage and humility on this issue that you did on high-stakes testing.

    I am a parent in this district, and I am also a former educational administrator as well as consultant who has evaluated programs in this district for refugee children. I look forward to your response to my concerns.

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    • dianeravitch says:

      July 6, 2019 at 5:40 pm

      Brandee,

      I would support a decision to move the mural.
      I oppose painting over it.
      This is a work of art by a recognized artist.
      Destroying his mural would be abhorrent.
      If the appropriate officials decide to relocate it, I would applaud them.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 6, 2019 at 7:16 pm

        It’s apparently genuinely not movable, because it’s painted directly on the wall. How would you feel about some kind of cover, screen or curtain (very large, obviously) that could be opened to reveal the mural for history study, art appreciation etc.?

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      • Bob Shepherd says:

        July 6, 2019 at 11:49 pm

        Of course it is moveable. Even a load-bearing wall can be removed. It would be a considerable undertaking, but it can be done.

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    • Bob Shepherd says:

      July 6, 2019 at 8:23 pm

      In the early nineteenth century, it was a habit among white photographers, whenever they went to photograph a male, native person of the Americas, to pop a Plains-style war bonnet on his head, whether or not this was representative of the person’s particular culture. Should we destroy the photographs of native leaders that perpetrate this inaccuracy? Wouldn’t that be a terrible loss?

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      • Bob Shepherd says:

        July 6, 2019 at 8:25 pm

        cx: mid- to late-nineteenth century

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23. LeftCoastTeacher says:

    July 6, 2019 at 2:11 pm

    I’m sorry, I shouldn’t write this, but I can’t resist: Diane, why did she ask you to delete the post instead of covering it?

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    • Lyndsey Schlax says:

      July 6, 2019 at 2:27 pm

      🎯🎯🎯

      Also why didn’t Diane insist on preserving it, for others to learn from?

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      • dianeravitch says:

        July 6, 2019 at 5:17 pm

        Lyndsey,

        I oppose destroying the murals. If the decision is made to move it to a museum or a post office or another place, that’s OK.

        I strongly oppose destroying works of art. Taking a picture and preserving it digitally, then painting over it, is not a solution. It is cultural vandalism.

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    • GregB says:

      July 6, 2019 at 2:49 pm

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      • LeftCoastTeacher says:

        July 6, 2019 at 7:17 pm

        Exactly, Greg.

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    • dianeravitch says:

      July 6, 2019 at 5:29 pm

      LCT, she said (correctly) that I did not ask her permission. I did not use her name. She had complained that her view had not gotten media attention, and I endeavored to present her view accurately so it did get wider attention. But she said her daughter would be very upset if she saw the iconic photo of the naked Vietnamese girl running from violence. She had sent the photo to me. I pointed out that the same photo appears in every history textbook that covers the war in Vietnam. So her daughter will see it. So I deleted the post. A few minutes later I got an email from her asking me not to delete it, she changed her mind. It was too late. I did what she asked, even though I thought she lost the opportunity to make the case for painting over the mural.

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      • maestramalinche says:

        July 6, 2019 at 5:52 pm

        The mom did not say that her daughter shouldn’t ever see the photograph of the running and traumatized child in the Vietnam War. She argued that it shouldn’t be prominently displayed on school walls as a permanent fixture, and used this as a teachable moment to compare how permanent installations depicting genocide and slavery have a powerful impact on the viewer. As a teacher and educator, I have had many cases where students have needed to step out of a conversation, a film, a piece of art. I have to be careful with minors in my care. They are students with stories and lives that I don’t know about. I have a duty to expose them and protect them- it’s a balancing act to teach genocide, war, oppression, while simultaneously creating uplifting lessons and cultivating safe relationships in which students can be their best most authentically engaged selves. When Native and Black families and students say that this mural is harmful to view everyday at school, I am ready to listen. I am a teacher and this is part of my job.

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      • dianeravitch says:

        July 6, 2019 at 6:09 pm

        You did not read her email to me on my personal email. She referred specifically to the photograph that she had sent me in our correspondence. She did not want her daughter to see it on my blog. I don’t know how old her daughter is but assume she is a young, impressionable child and not likely to read my blog. The point is that I did what she asked me to do. Period.

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    • SomeDAM Poet says:

      July 6, 2019 at 10:15 pm

      Whiteout (remember that?)

      Whiteout murals
      Whiteout posts
      Whiteout URLs
      Whiteout hosts

      Whiteout history
      Whiteout truth
      Whiteout mystery
      Whiteout — poof!

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      • SomeDAM Poet says:

        July 6, 2019 at 10:19 pm

        It’s funny. My sister had Whiteout on her counter a couple days ago. I had not seen that for ages, but it sure was useful in its day for erasing unwanted stuff.

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24. Bob Shepherd says:

    July 6, 2019 at 8:47 pm

    It simply is not the case that this mural CANNOT be moved. Even a load-bearing wall can be replaced. And it certainly isn’t the case that there is no way to curtain it. Again, however, doing either would be foregoing the opportunity that this mural provides for educating students about what it means–about the subversive power of art to speak terrible truth to power. The fact that some students obviously do not understand the origins and intent of this work is an educational opportunity. It’s also an opportunity for people to learn that sometimes the role of art is precisely NOT to be pretty or comfortable but to be disturbing. It is incumbent upon the faculty of this school to seize those opportunities.

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    • Bob Shepherd says:

      July 6, 2019 at 8:50 pm

      cx: forgoing, not foregoing

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25. Roy Turrentine says:

    July 6, 2019 at 10:06 pm

    I must differ from the esteemed Mr Sheperd in this case. While it is true that the painting seems to speak to some of the horrible truth in our history, and while I would agree that it is a great teaching prop for studying the artist and his attitudes toward the founding fathers and their contradictions, I think that this piece of art was far to,sophisticated to be a good addition to a school. It requires too much work to get the student body to understand it. Now if the artist had simply juxtaposed Washington with an image of other contributors to the American story, leaving the art to speak more generally, we might have never heard of it. It seems this artist took on something that was too intricate for high school students to understand on the face of it.

    Artists tend to do this.Walter Anderson, who I mentioned as the painter of six murals in Ocean Spring, painted another in the community center where the museum dedicated o his memory now resides. It is an intricate piece of art, but was never really accept d by the community or understood. Now that is is a curated part of the interpretation of his life, generations can soak in Anderson’s genius. By the way, I recommend this museum. It is very powerful.

    When I was a boy, I did not understand things like art and literature. Many of these things teachers tried to explain to me, and slowly, I began to understand. Not all students will get the intricacies of art. So it should be placed in a setting where it can be properly curated and preserved.

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26. carolinesf says:

    July 7, 2019 at 12:19 am

    This conversation got vicious.

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    • maestramalinche says:

      July 7, 2019 at 1:01 am

      CarolineSF, yes, it did. I think you have made excellent points, and you have worked hard to educate everyone reading here about what this mural means to people, how it is understood by our communities, who the actual protestors are, and how the protests are misunderstood by many. The national media attention to our hometown issue has not deepened our understanding of the issues here; the attack first, listen maybe attitude is painful to those who have had to repeat ad nauseam their trauma and objections to seeing the mural over their heads during their formative high school years. Thank you for being such a patient teacher.

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      • carolinesf says:

        July 7, 2019 at 10:20 am

        Thanks, Maestra.

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    • dianeravitch says:

      July 7, 2019 at 2:52 am

      Caroline, you are right.

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27. Roy Turrentine says:

    July 7, 2019 at 7:27 am

    What is good about Diane’s living room is the frequency of conversations that go into the kitchen. There they get heated up a bit, although certainly not spilling over into the mayhem that other forums exhibit wherein name calling commences at the outset of the discussion and the pilling of words produces incoherent babble.

    After listening to these conversations, it strikes me that this mural as with many parts of history is like atomic waste. It must be cared for. Moreover, if we bequeath atomic waste to future generations, as we have, our only hope is that future generations either do not find it, or take care of it in a way that will not produce harm.

    The atomic thing about history is that it pulls us from childish dualism concerning our thinking about the important things in life. Children generally are in the beginning stages of starting to classify things as good or bad. Confronting a symbol for good, a symbol as powerful as George Washington, with the actuality of human contradiction may be OK for a child who is already thinking deeply, but I contend that a vast majority of students have only begun to walk the trail that leads out of simplistic dualism and into adulthood. Many people never walk out of that canyon, for it is deep. We cannot expect the children to just leap from “this is good” to “this is worth analysis” in a single bound.

    We remember Washington for one big thing. He quit. After two terms of a presidency, he might have stayed in power, but he retired, setting a precedent that was only discarded in the face of the rising European conflict in 1939. Washington did not distinguish himself as a great military genius. He was not, like Jefferson and Madison, a great student of the enlightenment ideas that produced first the movement for independence and then the constitution. But he did understand that peaceful movement of power was essential to the survival of an idea. So he quit. Of all the things that are not in the constitution that assured the survival of a country where we can freely look back and thing critically about our past, Washington’s precedent-setting self-imposed term limit is the most important.

    So his picture is on the dollar. So his portrait adorns the halls of schools and public life. What he did was far larger than any single human being. His image is far more important to the country than his reality. So it is with other figures. Martin Luther King led us through the valley in a way that has come to placing him in a position no human being can possibly claim, a sort of god-like position reserved for the revered people who did something sacrificial for our good. Someday, historians will tell a more human tale of King, who was no doubt imperfect. But not now. It is not yet time.

    Thus I repeat my assertion that this mural, obviously a piece of atomic history, needs to be placed where a curator can be explain the artist’s viewpoint to an audience that is ready to move away from dualism.

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    • Lloyd Lofthouse says:

      July 7, 2019 at 12:55 pm

      Well said.

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