Oh for shame

[Gato_Solo]

And some even bigger questions. Would this even be an issue if the smiling laborer were white? If not, then who among us can claim true equality? Or true non-prejudicial ideaology?

Then you'd have the other extreme. The question of why no blacks are depicted. Used to be that way, too. That's why I said it should've never been covered. That, and some people carry too much baggage. The idea of being upset by such a painting is extremely weak. It says a lot about how people perceive themselves. I know we've come a long way since 1955. Some folks need to be reminded of that fact, and come up with ways to improve their lot, rather than bitch about something they have no clue about.

I've seen images of Appalachian people in far worse light. Hell, Gatlinburg markets it. It makes me sick in my soul to see these stereotypes propogated for a dollar. But it spurred me to investigate what the true Appalachian mountain people were like 130 years ago. What I learned changed me forever. For one thing, I went from a vehement opponent of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (because of the seizure of land from those who lived on it and other issues) to a staunch supporter of the park because of the ecological and environmental salvation it brought. I still oppose some of the methods used to achieve these goals, and I grieve for the displaced and far-from-fairly compensated, but it was a vital undertaking.

As a human, I can see that there were, and are, grave injustices throughout the world. Most perpetrated under the guise of 'helping out the less fortunate'. Even the stereotyping of the people from the Appalachian region was for somebody elses monetary gain...Just to set the record straight, I am not a communist, or socialist...

Maybe it's just me. Probably in fact. But I cannot see how this painting causes any real measurable harm to anyone. That is not an endorsement of Jim Crow. It is an acknowledgement that Jim Crow was real, and made a segment of our culture into a stronger people, even if by less than altruistic methods. The same way the "lazy mountaineer" image has made my own people better in the long run. I'm secure enough in my heritage,and know enough factual information about it, that the scalawag images of a hundred years or more ago don't fuel anger anymore...they fuel willingness to learn and spread accurate information to replace the falsehoods.

I never said it was an endorsement of Jim Crow. It was a depiction, from the artists point of view, based upon the time that the artist was living. What has to be learned is simple...not everything that you dislike is racist, and not everything others do to you is based upon your appearance. Most of it...good and bad...is earned.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

It was a depiction, from the artists point of view, based upon the time that the artist was living. What has to be learned is simple...not everything that you dislike is racist, and not everything others do to you is based upon your appearance. Most of it...good and bad...is earned.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[Gato_Solo]

lawn jockey

Looks like Gary Coleman...

I prefer this one, though...

 

[Gonz]

And those can be offensive to people even if you don't see it.

Hey. you know Leslie don't you?

 

[tonksy]

Urban legend has it that lawn jockeys used to be code for the underground railroad. If you had one on your lawn it was meant that you were a safe house...dunno how true it is.

 

[ekahs retsam]

I think lawn jockies could be offensive to the "vertically challenged"

 

[Gonz]

or those with taste

 

[ekahs retsam]

or those with taste

nice...

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

Given the choice between lawn jockeys and yard gnomes, I'll take the bullet please.

 

[flavio]

And learn to spell irrelevant. Most any college, regardless of its history, can teach you to spell.

A clear sign of a weak arguement. Don't debate the point at all....just the spealing.

If you can't see how a some wouldn't be too excited about a mural with a cotton-picking black man at their formerly white only university you're being completely dense.

 

[HomeLAN]

I prefer this one, though...

Bad-ASS! I want one!

 

[tonksy]

Given the choice between lawn jockeys and yard gnomes, I'll take the bullet please.

My gnomes are offended!

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

A clear sign of a weak arguement. Don't debate the point at all....just the spealing.

If you can't see how a some wouldn't be too excited about a mural with a cotton-picking black man at their formerly white only university you're being completely dense.

Hard to intelligently debate something with someone who can't master the language.

As to your contention...again, almost every university in America was once a "white only" institution. Hence, who is the one with a shaky leg to stand on? I am not the one denying history here. Black folks picked cotton. Some of them smiled when they did it. White folks picked cotton. Some of them smiled when they did it. The artist chose a paint. That's racism? Get out of the house more.

Are you insinuating that there isn't art at traditionally black colleges (which are still allowed...how racist!) that depict smiling subjects?

It amazes me that some nutcase can put a fetus in a bottle of bleach or smear feces on a rendering of Jesus and call it art and some folks will fall all over themselves to defend it, but a smiling black man in a field is a racist agenda. You all slay me. Really. Must be hard to keep a straight face when you do it.

 

[Altron]

The US (or so I've been told) is a country with freedom of speech and expression. Naturally, there are some things you have to give up in order to live in a free country. Being very easily offended is one of them. Because of the great country we live in, people are free to express themselves without fear of persecution. Meaning that they can paint pictures of black people, then display them, without a bunch of crazies fighting them about it. Of course, this also means that people are expected to have a thick enough skin to not take things to heart and accept other peoples' freedom of speech.

If you can't stand seeing someone freely express themselves, America isn't the country for you. Something like Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union might be better.

 

[flavio]

Hard to intelligently debate something with someone who can't master the language.

As to your contention...again, almost every university in America was once a "white only" institution. Hence, who is the one with a shaky leg to stand on?

Well hell, you should have looked up the meaning while you were nitpicking the spelling. I would consider that a more important thing for you to master.

I am not the one denying history here. Black folks picked cotton. Some of them smiled when they did it. White folks picked cotton. Some of them smiled when they did it. The artist chose a paint. That's racism? Get out of the house more.

You wouldn't have aproblem with a mural of union soldiers smiling and shooting at something at a university you attend then I suppose.

 

[chcr]

You wouldn't have aproblem with a mural of union soldiers smiling and shooting at something at a university you attend then I suppose.

The college he attended calls it's athletic teams the "Blue Raiders." What do you suppose that's a reference to? There's a difference between having an opinion and having a bug that far up ones ass.


From here:

Greenwood, Marion
(1909 - 1970)

Greenwood is arguably one of America’s greatest twentieth century women artists. She left high school at the age of fifteen to study painting and printmaking at the Art Students League of New York, under John Sloan and George Bridgman (1924-1928). She then completed her education at the Academie Colarossi, in Paris. Greenwood also took lessons in lithography from Emil Ganso (1929-1930).
At the age of twenty-two, Greenwood traveled to the Southwest to paint Navajo Indians. A year later she was living and working in Mexico, where her murals brought her work to the attention of the Mexican President and of Mexico’s most famous artist, Orozco. Greenwood’s work in Mexico made her reputation in the United States, and when she returned to America in 1936 the government frequently commissioned her for public murals.
Marion Greenwood was a Professor of Art at the University of Tennessee (1954-1955) and at Syracuse University (1965). She was elected a full member of the prestigious National Academy of Design in 1959. Today her paintings and lithographs are included in the following collections; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Woodstock Artists Association, Georgia Museum of Art, The University of Arizona Museum of Art, Brigham Young University, Yale University Art Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
During the Second World War, Greenwood worked for and exhibited her art with the Associated American Artists of New York. The Associated American Artists was created in the mid 1930’s and commissioned original graphic art from such great American masters as Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, Reginald Marsh and many others. All lithographs and etchings published by the A.A.A. were produced in editions ranging from 125 to 250 impressions. During this period, therefore, lithography became as important to her art as easel painting or murals.

Racist bitch.

 

[flavio]

Racist or not, if you can't understand how a mural with a cotton-picking black man at a formerly white only university could be a sore spot for some you're just being dense.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

You wouldn't have aproblem with a mural of union soldiers smiling and shooting at something at a university you attend then I suppose.

Never have yet. Of course, when they took the monument to Nathan Bedford Forest off the University Center at the college I graduated from, that was just PC hunky fuckin dory I guess. Can't have a black person get offended now can we? Never mind the fact that he endowed the damn place...Tyrone don't like it so it's gotta go.

I will also assume you would have a problem with a monument to Robert E. Lee erected in Oaktown. You'd likely prefer one for Grant, a slave owner until after the war. It suits your level of ignorance about actual events better.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

What's it gonna take to get it through what passes for your brain that almost every college that existed pre-1865 was white only? WAS!! But "traditionally black" colleges still exist and that's not racist?

You're incredible.

 

[flavio]

Never have yet.

They had one at your school?

Can't have a black person get offended now can we?

Usually universities don't want to offend any of their students.

Never mind the fact that he endowed the damn place...Tyrone don't like it so it's gotta go.

One guy named Tyrone was the only one complaining?

I will also assume you would have a problem with a monument to Robert E. Lee erected in Oaktown. You'd likely prefer one for Grant, a slave owner until after the war. It suits your level of ignorance about actual events better.

Who said I had a problem with any of it? What events? Are you trying to base an arguement on things I didn't say and then call me ignorant?

I think that's just going to end up making you look ignorant.