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News & ArtsTuesday, June 8, 2010
News Required Reading: Roger Ebert on White Racists and Whitewashed Murals
Posted by Dan Savage on Tue, Jun 8, 2010 at 9:33 AM
Last week Jen linked to the story about a mural that had been painted on a school building in Prescott, Arizona, that featured portraits of some of the white, black, and hispanic students who attend the racially diverse school. After local bigots conducted a campaign of racist harassment directed at the school, the artist, and the children depicted in the mural, the school's principal ordered the artists to come back and paint over the faces of the black and hispanic students, to "lighten" them, to appease the racist mob. Wonkette found the incident so distressing that they dropped the snark:
The children depicted on the mural, as we mentioned before but feel compelled to repeat, are little kids who go to the school—“a K-5 school with 380 students and the highest ethnic mix of any school in Prescott. Wall said thousands of town residents volunteered or donated to the project.” And these children, for the past several months as this happy mural encouraging “green transportation” was being painted by local artists, have been treated to the city of Prescott’s finest citizens driving by and yelling “Nigger” and “Spic” at this school wall painted with pictures of the children who attend the school. And this has been encouraged by a city councilman, Steve Blair, who uses his local radio talk show to rile up these people and demand the mural be destroyed.And now the faces are being painted white, “because of the controversy.”
Remember where you were, when you could still laugh about teabaggers and racists and Arizonans, because funny time is almost over. If the unemployment keeps up—one in five adult white males has no job and will never have a job again—and people keep walking away from their stucco heaps they can’t afford and the states and cities and counties and towns keep passing their aggressive racist laws to rile up the trash even more, shit’s going to very soon become very bad, and whether it’s the National Guard having wars in the Sunbelt Exurbs against armies of crazy old white people who are finally using their hundreds of millions of guns, or whole Latino neighborhoods burned to the ground the way the Klan used to burn down black neighborhoods a century ago, we are in for a long dark night and no light-colored paint is going to fix that.
After the controversy became national news the school asked the artists to come back and re-re-paint the faces on the mural, to darken them. Now Roger Ebert has weighed in with an absolutely beautiful essay that begins with him imagining himself in the shoes of the black and hispanic kids at the school:
How would I feel if I were a brown student at Miller Valley Elementary School in Prescott, Arizona? A mural was created to depict some of the actual students in the school. Let's say I was one of the lucky ones. The mural took shape, and as my face became recognizable, I took some kidding from my classmates and a smile from a pretty girl I liked. My parents even came over one day to have a look and take some photos to e-mail to the family. The mural was shown on TV, and everybody could see that it was me.Then a City Councilman named Steve Blair went on his local radio talk show and made some comments about the mural. I didn't hear him, but I can guess what he said. My dad says it's open season on brown people in this state. Anyway, for two months white people drove past in their cars and screamed angry words out the window before hurrying away. And the artists got back up on their scaffold and started making my face whiter.
We went over to my grandparent's house, and my grandmother cried and told me, "I prayed that was ending in my lifetime." Then there was more news: The City Councilman was fired from his radio show, the Superintendent of Schools climbed up on the scaffold with a bullhorn and apologized for the bad decision, and I guess the artists went back up and started making my skin darker again, but I didn't go to see, because I never wanted to go near that bullshit mural again.
Ebert ends the essay by imagining—actually, just go read it.
1
"whole Latino neighborhoods burned to the ground the way the Klan used to burn down black neighborhoods a century ago"
Latinos aren't cowed former slaves, and as people love to point out when disparaging the group as a whole, some are "violent criminals"
As poetic as it is to muse about the rise of old whitey goin all racist. When they number less than half of the population, the reality would be somewhat less amusing.
Latinos aren't cowed former slaves, and as people love to point out when disparaging the group as a whole, some are "violent criminals"
As poetic as it is to muse about the rise of old whitey goin all racist. When they number less than half of the population, the reality would be somewhat less amusing.
2
As ugly as this story is, it is a win. Not long ago, this would have been, at best, a local story. This kind of bullshit, petty racism would not have been challenged, and the people who made bad decisions would not have been accountable.
I agree with Ebert that the actual kids involved have been harmed and gotten a hard lesson about the ugly side of the real world. But the big picture is that shaming worked. There are more closet racists than you can imagine, shining light on them is what works.
I agree with Ebert that the actual kids involved have been harmed and gotten a hard lesson about the ugly side of the real world. But the big picture is that shaming worked. There are more closet racists than you can imagine, shining light on them is what works.
3
Roger Ebert is one of the giants, man. He shares the full coin of his mind with us in everything he writes. No secrets, no bullshit, no manipulations. I love him unashamedly.
5
These are proud racists, shame is not in their 15-word vocabulary. Part of their echo-chamber rant is about how violent crime is way up with rampant illegals running around. The reality is that crime is way down over the past 10 years. Just keep shouting lies, they eventually become truth. Worked in Germany, and many other places. We got the PATRIOT Act from lies and cultivated fear.
6
@ 5
if you think it is a myth then you should move to a Mexican/Latino neighborhood. Someplace like Yakima or some other diverse paradise. Hey, did you ever check out the Washington State Patrol's Most Wanted webpage? 22 of the 26 people pictured there are latrinos.
if you think it is a myth then you should move to a Mexican/Latino neighborhood. Someplace like Yakima or some other diverse paradise. Hey, did you ever check out the Washington State Patrol's Most Wanted webpage? 22 of the 26 people pictured there are latrinos.
8
@7 Now now, he's an old man. He doesn't know any better. Still, a piece as touching as that makes me willing to let his mistaken views in that area slide.
9
It's a sad day for Arizona when the Evan Mecham fiasco looks pretty tame compared to the shit going on there now. Russell Pearce - racist Mormon wife-beater and state legislator sponsoring racial profiling (1), J.T. Ready - his good buddy who runs with Neo-Nazis and tried to run for the legislature (2), Jan Brewer - the replacement governor who had already wiped the voting rolls of Hispanic-type names as secretary of state before gleefully signing the racial profiling law (3), Joe Arpaio - a child of Italian immigrants who has cost the state of Arizona at least $50 million in misspent funds (4) in his police-state war on brown people (not counting the lawsuits) and has somehow been able to rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate investments (5) on a public servant's salary, and now the lovely Steve Blair - Prescott councilman and (now fired) radio talk show host (6). So much for the claim that everything that's wrong with AZ is in Maricopa County. Looks like Yavapai County has plenty of its own racists, showing some real class. Takes a big man (or woman) to yell racial epithets at artists and children painting a mural. This is not the Arizona I grew up in, and it both saddens and disgusts me.
1)http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard…
2)http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard…
3)http://www.cogitamusblog.com/2010/04/jan…
(4)http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2…
(5) http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2004-07-0…
(6) http://www.prescottenews.com/news/latest…
More...
1)http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard…
2)http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard…
3)http://www.cogitamusblog.com/2010/04/jan…
(4)http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2…
(5) http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2004-07-0…
(6) http://www.prescottenews.com/news/latest…
10
@4:
Not sure where you're getting your numbers - perhaps you'd care to link to the relevent case studies - but based on the numbers I've seen, black-on-black homicide rates aren't even half what you're citing, while at the same time white-on-white homicide rates are considerably higher than those for blacks-against-blacks (46.1% versus 40.7% respectively).
Not sure where you're getting your numbers - perhaps you'd care to link to the relevent case studies - but based on the numbers I've seen, black-on-black homicide rates aren't even half what you're citing, while at the same time white-on-white homicide rates are considerably higher than those for blacks-against-blacks (46.1% versus 40.7% respectively).
11
@6 It is a myth, perpetuated by those who are trying to justify their racial profiling law, as well as Joe Arpaio's raids in which he arrests anyone who is brown, regardless of citizenship.
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard…
"In fact, according to BJS, crime rates in border states have dropped during past decade
Crime rates in Arizona at lowest point in decades. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the violent crime rate in Arizona was lower in 2006, 2007, and 2008 -- the most recent year from which data are available -- than any year since 1983. The property crime rate in Arizona was lower in 2006, 2007, and 2008 than any year since 1968. In addition, in Arizona, the violent crime rate dropped from 577.9 per 100,000 population in 1998 to 447 per 100,000 population in 2008; the property crime rate dropped from 5,997 to 4,291 during the same period. During the same decade, Arizona's undocumented immigrant population grew rapidly. The Arizona Republic reported: "Between January 2000 and January 2008, Arizona's undocumented population grew 70 percent, according to the DHS [Department of Homeland Security] report. Nationally, it grew 37 percent."
Crime rates have dropped during past decade in other border states. The BJS data further show that violent crime rates and property crime rates in California, New Mexico, and Texas dropped from 1998 through 2008 -- the most recent year from which data are available:
In California, the violent crime rate dropped from 703.7 in 1998 to 503.8 in 2008; the property crime rate dropped from 3,639.1 to 2,940.3 during the same period.
In New Mexico, the violent crime rate dropped from 961.4 in 1998 to 649.9 in 2008; the property crime rate dropped from 5,757.7 to 3,909.2 over the same period.
In Texas, the violent crime rate dropped from 564.6 in 1998 to 507.9 in 2008; the property crime rate dropped from 4,547 to 3,985.6 over the same period."
http://mediamatters.org/research/2010042…
Don't believe it? Go play with your own crime stats
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/dataonline/Sear…
When I left AZ in the mid-late 90's, crime was much worse than it is now.
More...
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard…
"In fact, according to BJS, crime rates in border states have dropped during past decade
Crime rates in Arizona at lowest point in decades. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the violent crime rate in Arizona was lower in 2006, 2007, and 2008 -- the most recent year from which data are available -- than any year since 1983. The property crime rate in Arizona was lower in 2006, 2007, and 2008 than any year since 1968. In addition, in Arizona, the violent crime rate dropped from 577.9 per 100,000 population in 1998 to 447 per 100,000 population in 2008; the property crime rate dropped from 5,997 to 4,291 during the same period. During the same decade, Arizona's undocumented immigrant population grew rapidly. The Arizona Republic reported: "Between January 2000 and January 2008, Arizona's undocumented population grew 70 percent, according to the DHS [Department of Homeland Security] report. Nationally, it grew 37 percent."
Crime rates have dropped during past decade in other border states. The BJS data further show that violent crime rates and property crime rates in California, New Mexico, and Texas dropped from 1998 through 2008 -- the most recent year from which data are available:
In California, the violent crime rate dropped from 703.7 in 1998 to 503.8 in 2008; the property crime rate dropped from 3,639.1 to 2,940.3 during the same period.
In New Mexico, the violent crime rate dropped from 961.4 in 1998 to 649.9 in 2008; the property crime rate dropped from 5,757.7 to 3,909.2 over the same period.
In Texas, the violent crime rate dropped from 564.6 in 1998 to 507.9 in 2008; the property crime rate dropped from 4,547 to 3,985.6 over the same period."
http://mediamatters.org/research/2010042…
Don't believe it? Go play with your own crime stats
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/dataonline/Sear…
When I left AZ in the mid-late 90's, crime was much worse than it is now.
12
@10,
Unfortunately, it looks like #4 is correct. If black victims make up 49 percent of murder victims and if only 3.5 percent of total victims were black people killed by non-black (i.e. white) people, then the 94 percent that #4 keeps blathering on about isn't that off base.
Unfortunately, it looks like #4 is correct. If black victims make up 49 percent of murder victims and if only 3.5 percent of total victims were black people killed by non-black (i.e. white) people, then the 94 percent that #4 keeps blathering on about isn't that off base.
13
@11 are you so dumb that you don't realize that they don't just stay in the border states? Crime may have dropped in the border states but it increased a lot in North Carolina, Yakima, and other placed that you naive idiot liberals ignore. Also the other reason crime has been dropping is because the border states have been incrementally making the illegals feel unwelcome, so they are gradually leaving for places like Yakima, Spokane, and Seattle. Goddamn you are fucking stupid.
14
That totally made me tear up. I had no idea that Roger Ebert was anything more than the chubby of "those two" movie critics, nor that he is married to a black woman. I'm thoroughly impressed with this piece.
15
@11 are you so dumb that you don't realize that they don't just stay in the border states? Crime may have dropped in the border states but it increased a lot in North Carolina, Yakima, and other placed that you naive idiot liberals ignore. Also the other reason crime has been dropping is because the border states have been incrementally making the illegals feel unwelcome, so they are gradually leaving for places like Yakima, Spokane, and Seattle. Goddamn you are fucking stupid.
16
It is a very moving read. It's sad to put myself in the mindset of racists in today's world, but every once in a while I need to try and figure out where they are coming from. I still haven't figured that one out.
17
I agree with Gloomy Gus. Roger Ebert is my mentor (although he may be unaware of this). Mr. Ebert taught me how to look at film in a new way and opened up an already enjoyable art form into a world of beauty, intelligence, and imagination.
I'm very happy that he is turning his Pulitzer Prize-winning writing and critic gaze to social issues as well. History isn't going to be very kind to those people who referred to him as merely "the fat one."
I'm very happy that he is turning his Pulitzer Prize-winning writing and critic gaze to social issues as well. History isn't going to be very kind to those people who referred to him as merely "the fat one."
18
Thank you for recognizing this. I tried posting this on Facebook yesterday and no one cared. Im so glad other people are struck by the beauty of this essay.
19
I agree with #2 - this is a death rattle, the last desperate gasps of a culture that in 15-20 years will be dead or so feeble they will hold no real political power .
20
@14 you should read the Esquire piece on him by Chris Jones. It's a really moving, interesting profile.
21
I'm really beginning to hate this state. Prescott is a larger, more metropolitan town than the one I live in now. What that suggests about my neighbors is something I do not want to contemplate in depth.
23
@20: When I read that Esquire piece in April, I just couldn't stop crying. He's truly an amazing man.
24
@22: I live in a city with a very large Mexican population. They're no crazier than any comparable non-Hispanics.
Xenophobic freakout much?
Xenophobic freakout much?
26
As someone born and raised in Arizona, I'm so glad that people are finally seeing what it is really like there and why I left. Aside from the oppressive heat, that is.
27
I've watched/read Ebert as a film critic almost my whole life. But he's also a pretty eloquent writer on other topics, when he wants to. This was beautiful.
29
@10 & 12
The thing that always bothers me about that statistic (and obviously I'm not blaming you for this, just talking about the number itself), and statistics like it, is that it's meant to imply something about race when it's so obvious that the operative concept in those murder stats is class. Poor people engage in crime both because they feel the lack of many things and because they have proportionately less to lose. I lived at or below the poverty line from my early childhood until I was about 25, and the degree to which society shuts you out when you're that poor is remarkable. You're effectively locked into a whole other world where legal boundaries are guidelines, at best and the consequences of getting caught are the loss of a job you hated and an apartment you couldn't afford. And when there's that much crime going on around you and everyone's that wired all the time, you carry a weapon and you've got to be ready to throw down to protect yourself, or you'll be everyone's victim. And that's every inch as true for poor white people as it is for poor black people -- there are just a lot more poor black people. And it's fascinating to me that people like @4 don't understand that. And, conversely, that they don't understand the inherent injustice in allowing a state of affairs where otherwise decent people are kept in a state of total desperation until their moral boundaries dissolve like good metal in an acid rain.
The thing that always bothers me about that statistic (and obviously I'm not blaming you for this, just talking about the number itself), and statistics like it, is that it's meant to imply something about race when it's so obvious that the operative concept in those murder stats is class. Poor people engage in crime both because they feel the lack of many things and because they have proportionately less to lose. I lived at or below the poverty line from my early childhood until I was about 25, and the degree to which society shuts you out when you're that poor is remarkable. You're effectively locked into a whole other world where legal boundaries are guidelines, at best and the consequences of getting caught are the loss of a job you hated and an apartment you couldn't afford. And when there's that much crime going on around you and everyone's that wired all the time, you carry a weapon and you've got to be ready to throw down to protect yourself, or you'll be everyone's victim. And that's every inch as true for poor white people as it is for poor black people -- there are just a lot more poor black people. And it's fascinating to me that people like @4 don't understand that. And, conversely, that they don't understand the inherent injustice in allowing a state of affairs where otherwise decent people are kept in a state of total desperation until their moral boundaries dissolve like good metal in an acid rain.
30
@29: Yeah, I keep trying to explain that to that one troll who rants about "people of shit color" and insists that black people are evil. He just responds, more or less, that "oh, the fact that you have to adjust for societal class just shows how much you're grasping at straws!"
If people want to be racist, there's no convincing them otherwise with science or statistics.
If people want to be racist, there's no convincing them otherwise with science or statistics.
31
@30 your formula works for homophobes too... Or anyone who wants to justify their hate and intolerance-
"If people want to hate(fill in the blank with your (least)favorite racial minority, sexual minority, religion(s) etc), there's no convincing them otherwise with science or statistics.
"If people want to hate(fill in the blank with your (least)favorite racial minority, sexual minority, religion(s) etc), there's no convincing them otherwise with science or statistics.
32
@4, 10, 12, 29: Also, let's not forget that proximity is a huge confounding factor here - people get killed by people around them. Given the ethnically-segregated state of the majority of neighborhoods in this country, people are going to tend to be killed by others of their same ethnic group because the murderers around whom one will be are going to strongly tend to be of the same ethnic group. These figures tell us nothing other than that we have strongly segregated neighborhoods. I'm not sure whether 4 was being serious when sie said "Evil white people like me have absolutely no need to oppress blacks and latrinos. THEY DO AN AWESOME JOB OF THAT ALL BY THEMSELVES", but by that logic, white people are doing an awesome job of oppressing white people. Er... I'll just assume it was sardonic.
Anyway, it amazes me that people can be so fucking despicable. It's hard to get much lower than driving by a school to shout racial epithets at little kids. I'm on the verge of praying for open rebellion, just so there's a reasonable justification for summary execution of these pricks. Man, this really makes me furious; I'm not generally for ethnocide, but the bat-shit-crazy Right wing in this country is putting together a compelling case.
And why is appeasing the loonies "because of the controversy" so popular among school administrators lately? Or has it always been? It's the same attitude that some other school principals exhibited by canceling promenades because gay students wanted to bring their partners.
Anyway, it amazes me that people can be so fucking despicable. It's hard to get much lower than driving by a school to shout racial epithets at little kids. I'm on the verge of praying for open rebellion, just so there's a reasonable justification for summary execution of these pricks. Man, this really makes me furious; I'm not generally for ethnocide, but the bat-shit-crazy Right wing in this country is putting together a compelling case.
And why is appeasing the loonies "because of the controversy" so popular among school administrators lately? Or has it always been? It's the same attitude that some other school principals exhibited by canceling promenades because gay students wanted to bring their partners.
33
Roger Ebert is brilliant, and his writing has only gotten better since he lost the ability to speak. Read his reviews, read his blog, read his tweets, THEN read the Esquire story about him. (If you read the Esquire story first, you'll get depressed. If you read it after you've read everything else, you'll be inspired.)
34
I love reading almost anything by Roger Ebert. Even if I disagree with some of his movie reviews.
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