An 83-year-old mural at a high school in San Francisco will be covered up, according to a report by KPIX.
The controversial mural, which depicts the cruelty of slavery and the slaying of Native Americans, was painted in 1936.
QUESTION: Do you think it’s a good idea to cover it up, or do you think it’s important for it to be shown?
55 comments
*sighs* the whole point of the mural was to show the savagery and brutality of the early American experience. But by all means, lets remove all traces of history and pretend it didn’t happen so no one gets triggered.
What worries me is what that old adage that says that if we deny history that we are bound to repeat it. It’s funny how the liberals and Lefty’s want a kind of rewrite history and even burn books. I totally opposite of how they used to feel. It’s a dangerous movement.
I think a good compromise would have been to place curtains over the mural which would hide it on a daily basis but then open the karstens for teachable moments several times a year.
Sure– forget the past (yes-slavery was wrong) but it is history. Just like the Muslims that say that the killing of Jews in Germany did not happen. Our youth is doomed.
Where did you get that? It’s not Muslims but white supremist that say that the killing of Jews in Germany did not happen.
ISIS destroyed centuries old priceless relics because it offends them.
SFUSD destroys decades old art because it offends someone.
People, get it through your heads…..we do -NOT- have the right to not be offended.
Very 1984 of them….
Rewriting history to suit your needs will not have the end effect you’re looking for.
I’ll be honest. The overly sensitive have driven me to the point where I no longer care one way or the other. I used to err on the side of sensitivity out of respect for others. But society has gotten to the point where people are so offended by everything and everybody, and I just stopped caring. Do what you want, and if that offends you – thicken your skin. Life goes on.
Keep voting for liberals and this is what you get.
California is doomed and the Bay Area has been long gone…
What does anyone expect from the libs of San Fran Sewer. What a crime, if you do not like something, just get rid of it. To bad we can’t do the same for the whole damm city.
@WC, people who want this are NOT liberals. They are just fools that that think they’re liberal. Real liberals don’t get offended very easily and let history stand. Faux liberals are easily manipulated by the powers at be own ends.
I tend to agree with the Captain. Actual liberals – Kennedy liberals, if you will – are pretty much extinct. Or called conservatives now. Whatever.
Keep voting these liberal children out of office! This is another example of them hiding under their covers. Time to grow up boys and girls.
ok when are we going to cover up the Egyptian hieroglyphs
or the Nazca lines because they depict the fact that aliens or another aircraft helped to make them …blasphemy
ok lets burn the louvre lots of bad history there right oh left sorry
erase the past and make it easier for the democrats to make up the future how they want it
IMAGES ARE THE DEVIL ERASE THEM ALL
WOW THE IDOIOCY OF PEOPLE STILL ASTONISHES ME IN THIS DAY AND AGE
beware world the democrat jihad against the past has begun hide your carvings they are coming
democrats the other other anti history or rules or couth or common sense
hey dems just because someone doesn’t like something doesn’t mean you just up and destroy it for all ….oh sorry that is your stand …oooops
History is bad bad bad. Let’s quit teaching it in school. The kids might learn something. Let’s all live in a cloud of denial. Well it happened and covering the picture up is not going to change anything.
Covering up is better than painting over or destruction.
heck why stop there
anyone named Washington or grant or ford or anything else I decree that has anything to do with the past i don’t like will have to leave I hear theres room in France for the purists ….de slacker you have my back right …dang it …left …have to remember that…. heil left
just ridiculous and obviously you can see where this is headed ….1930 germany all over again …..
As I write this, there are six posts ahead of me, starting with The Mamba and ending with WC. All but Kentucky Derby’s are dead on. The problem I have with Derby’s is that he/she said: “Do what you want.” That’s what is destroying this once beautiful and wonderful state….is the liberals always doing what THEY want. They have to be stopped, somehow. I keep trying to do that at the polls, as do others. I don’t agree with just letting them do whatever the hell they want to, whenever the hell they want to do it.
Art , like porn, is one of those things that, if offends you, you don’t have to look at it.
I tell you, if I had any ounce of respect toward the easily offended to begin with (which I barely had), I lost ALL respect when I heard some whining woman on the news refer to Geo. Washington as our country’s “so-called founding father”. What the hell?! If you do not consider Washington the founding father of the USA then get the *&%! out of this country.
I say keep it exposed, learn from it, and move forward. I saw the news story. Seems the SF school board is only thinking of votes, not what is right. It’s interesting which race supports it and which race wants it destroyed. I’ll never live in SF again.
Witness the destruction of American culture. You voted for it.
Well gee it only took 83 years for it to become offensive wonder why?
By all means, cover up a piece of art that depicts historic events accurately. We cannot, after all, have the truth about our founding fathers depicted in all their slave-owning and Native American-dominating glory. Let the kids decide: do they find the murals offensive and traumatic, or do they aspire to better themselves to show they have moved beyond those times?
Electricity is bottled lighting and witchcraft. We need to go back to the stone age and pound sand for entertainment.
If we destroy everything that reminds us of our ignorance, perhaps it will never have been so.
Why white wash a mural that shows history the way it was? Not because it hurt some minority feelings but because it rubs our history in our noses – like it should.
Lets just white wash history so we can pretend we dont have anything bad in our past history.
I agree with so many of these opinions – covering up a mural of a depiction of a time in history is WRONG! Obliterating art or writings of historical events is WRONG! We cannot learn from our mistakes if we’re not allowed to see or discuss our mistakes. Leave the mural alone and for those who are “offended” – Grow UP and get over your pansy-a** selves!
The local branch of the Taliban in action.
AD
This is as ridiculous as changeing the name of that school in Marin County (Dixie), the name of which really had nothing to do with the slave era. But, they changed it, nevertheless.
The mural isn’t promoting or approving the behavior depicted, it is an historically accurate depiction of the wrongs of the past. It is there to learn from so that it doesn’t happen again. Painted in the 30s, the artist wanted to show what had actually taken place which wasn’t taught in schools at the time. It was risky and heroic of him to do so in that day and age. He deserves credit for believing in his vision as enlightening when others would have quashed such a depiction.
We cannot keep destroying our history because people are offended. Please be intelligent enough to put our nations history into context. This was legal and widespread at the time. The whining left won’t stop until they have erased all this countries history and it’s a shame. Trump 2020!
Why don’t we just take History out of schools altogether? Someone is going to be offended and it will eventually be erased anyway. Sad really. Hell, someone wanted to ban a Christmas song last year. Don’t tell me what I should be offended by. It’s my choice. If I don’t agree with something It’s my choice to just ignore it.
I disagree with the board’s decision and think money should be spent to educate not eradicate historical murals because it offends. I believe many of the students are more concerned about other matters in their lives than the murals.
My mother and I graduated from GWHS and the murals entitled, “The Life of Washington” never bothered me. I did not realize what a historical piece of art this is until I studied art history.
Earlier this year I heard about the possible destruction of the murals and wrote to the school board/commissioners and superintendent asking them not to destroy the murals. I explained the value of history and significance of the artwork, and other reasons. The school board had a commission of 11 people and only one voted to preserve the murals!
The school board’s judgment is very short sighted and indicates their bias and resistance to educate students who should know about American history. There are many alumni and others who believe the murals should stay as they are and be used to teach.
I attended GWHS – the high school in question. I saw that mural every day, multiple times a day, for four years. It was never offensive to me – it was real. It depicted elements of ugliness in American history. It kept me mindful and respectful of those times when ugliness won out and where I thought we’d come and progressed.
Or we can let them worry about their own community. Here again the press isn’t doing anybody any favors. It’s a hyper-local issue and none of our business. But they keep fanning the flames, don’t they.
Unfortunately, this is an attitude that seems to be spreading like the flu and will present itself in your community sooner or later. Nothing like being prepared when it does.
Perfect example of Communist USA mindset. None of those who voted to take this down should be allowed to get near a school or hold a public office again.
You do know, of course, that the mural artist was a Communist Party member.
The creator of the mural was a communist. It is ironic that the new far left is trying to destroy what the old left created.
I don’t see this as a right or left issue. Several liberal local talk show hosts(Pat Thurston and John Rothman) are against destroying it or covering it up, as am I and I consider myself liberal, I think it is more generational than right/left. Danny Glover spoke against and everyone of my liberal friends that I have discussed this issue with are against destroying it, we are now in our sixties and seventies. Seems like today’s youth need more of a thick skin and understand that history no matter how unpleasant is there for us to learn from it. I lived in Israel for a short time, and went to the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, nothing is more upsetting than that, but to the people of Israel and Jews, I would dare say for all of us it is important that the history of the holocaust not be forgotten. What did we say after 9/11? Never forget, I think that can be applied to anything unpleasant in history, we need to know about it, no matter how unpleasant.
We used to learn from history and make changes . That is progress, eliminating it is not making a change … what about the Irish and how they were treated… learn don’t forget or remove our history
Agree with you, every country has it dark side. I was born and raised in Denmark, although it goes way back the Vikings weren’t exactly saints, when they roamed the seas of Europe, in fact the red haired Irish is supposedly a mix of Spaniards and the blond norsemen.
Perhaps the historically bent mural should be covered in obscene rap diolog instead. Or maybe the feces of drug addicts would be more edifying.
It is “HISTORY” leave it alone.
I don’t understand the position here at all. Deny how history was viewed at the time an art mural was painted because it doesn’t agree with your sensibilities now? If it turns out Michaelangelo may have made some racist remarks shall we paint over the Cistine chapel? Burn all of the books? It is a great way to start the conversation with students about how history is written and perceived. Why is art a threat? SO ridiculous.
Everyone of us alive today is a product of something that took place in history. It could have been war, slavery or mass migration or any number of things. If just a few of things in history had changed there would be a totally different population alive today. If you are enjoying your life enjoy history.
It seems there’s some very fine people on both side of this issue.
This is beyond out of control. It’s an historical mural. I completely disagree with covering it up, but if it were free I could maaaaaaaaaaybe understand. But this school is talking about spending in excess of $500,000 to cover it up like they don’t have any better uses for that money.
Several years from now, a child in school, will ask their mom (home school as a trend), “What were black people doing in the 1800’s?” And Mom will say, “Gee, we don’t seem to have any record of them”. And once again, history will have been written for the ruling class. Slavery and discrimination are immoral things. To omit them is to deny children learning about how wrong they really were.
If I wasn’t 99% sure 100% of the people commenting were white, this might resonate some. It’s possible our opinions aren’t being asked for or even welcome, except by white knight liberal local news.
Well, it’s a good thing we have a white knight here among us to let us know when we have the appropriate genetics to share an opinion.
Fair enough, but better a knight that a fool on a mule Rollo. Nice hat.
Whatever you say, chief. Enjoy.
I am not one who would support destroying or hiding art.
Comments are closed.