A San Francisco public school district plans to remove a 13-panel mural of George Washington from the halls of a local high school amid complaints that the artwork demeans blacks and Native Americans.
Did we mention that the school’s name is “George Washington High School?”
The 13-panel mural series, entitled the “Life of George Washington,” was painted in 1936 by Russian-American artist Victor Arnautoff, who’s famous for his murals.
Controversy surrounding two of the 13 murals has been brewing since the 1960s, but erupted again in February 2019, according to the Richmond District blog.
Activists say the art ‘glorifies’ slavery and white supremacy
At the time, a 13-member group made a final recommendation, which was to remove the entire “Life of George Washington” mural series from the high school named after him. The activist group said the mural “traumatizes students and community members.”
“We come to these recommendations due to the continued historical and current trauma of Native Americans and African Americans with these depictions in the mural that glorifies slavery, genocide, colonization, manifest destiny, white supremacy, oppression, etc.
The “low” mural glorifies oppression instead of eliminating it. It also perpetuates bias through stereotypes rather than ending bias.”
At the center of the controversy is a panel called “Westward Vision,” which depicts white soldiers standing over the dead body of a Native American while a frontiersman and a Native American chief smoke a peace pipe in the background (see below).
According to the controversy that’s spilled on to Twitter, Washington H.S. school students aren’t the only ones who are triggered:
This is a mural of George Washington directing “pioneers” to go west as they walk over a dead Native American. It's at George Washington High School in San Francisco. There's a movement to remove it but it is fiercely resisted by alumni.
What kind of people think that way? Sick! pic.twitter.com/1d5C2VihmW
— Brett Chapman (@brettachapman) April 30, 2019
The paintings depict the reality of that time
Another painting that caused uproar was a mural panel entitled the “Mount Vernon” (see below). In that painting, George Washington talks to a white man, who gestures at a seated black man, presumably a slave.
In the background are both slaves and white men working. Like many wealthy whites of his time, Washington was a slave owner.
Be fair. Students at George Washington High School have every reason to feel badly about this mural depicting Washington together with slaves. [shame on Daily Wire for publishing a sanguine portrait of Washington, not the mural] pic.twitter.com/6OqR5RPwwm
— Truth Is A Defense (@Kid_Saanen) May 2, 2019
Historian decries ‘troubling intolerance’ of today’s leftists
It’s unclear why left-wing activists claim the artworks “glorify” slavery and white supremacy when they merely depict the reality of that time period. The paintings are not a commentary on whether slavery or colonization was good, but rather, depicts the fact that they happened.
Historian Fergus Bordewich told the College Fix he’s alarmed by the sanitizing of American history by retroactively judging our past using today’s values.
“There is a deeply wrongheaded habit to project today’s norms, values, ideals backwards in time to find our ancestors inevitably falling short,” Bordewich said. “It betrays a very troubling intolerance of art and the ambiguity of art and the aspirations of art.”
Remember when Antifa mass-destroyed statues in 2017?
This entire episode is reminiscent of the statue-destruction of 2017, when violent Antifa mass-destroyed confederate statues around the United States, claiming they’re “racist.”
Predictably, leftist anarchists had no problem with these same statues during the eight-year presidency of Barack Obama — the nation’s first black president.
The historical monuments only became “racist” after President Donald Trump took office. Why? Because today’s liberalism is a mental disorder marked by hypocrisy, a willful ignorance of facts, criminal behavior, and selective outrage.
Several statues of explorer Christopher Columbus were also destroyed. That prompted Italian-Americans, like comedian Joe Piscopo, to say Antifa will destroy the Columbus statue at New York’s Columbus Circle over his dead body.
“That statue at Columbus Circle in New York, it ain’t coming down,” Piscopo told Tucker Carlson. “We [Italian-Americans] are not going down, and neither is that statue. If you have time to tear down a statue, you have too much time on your hands.”
Charles Barkley to Antifa: Calm the hell down
NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley — who is not a Trump supporter or a conservative — trashed alt-left Antifa anarchists who were tearing down statues they suddenly find racist, saying they needed to calm down.
“I’m not going to waste my time worrying about these confederate statues,” said Barkley, who has voted for Democrats most of his life. “That’s wasted energy.”
Charles Barkley has a thing or two to say about all this statue busting – and Antifa is NOT going to like it https://t.co/FCVNCoyB5r pic.twitter.com/3lq6D7WewQ
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) August 19, 2017
When will leftist activists destroy these?
https://twitter.com/magnuslewis263/status/898134554950553600
Now what?#Charlottesville pic.twitter.com/nWe764pv9I
— Larry Elder (@larryelder) August 16, 2017
https://twitter.com/JCMcLeanMD/status/897652304068960257
Slavery reparations hustle and ‘Blame Whitey’ mania is a scam, says former ACLU leader
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Samantha Chang is a senior staff writer for BizPac Review. She is a financial editor and lawyer based in New York City.
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