I would have never believed I could see so much ugliness from one state.
The leader of a group of artists says he was ordered to lighten the skin tones of children depicted in an outdoor mural covering two walls of a Prescott, Arizona elementary school because of complaints that the faces appeared too ethnic.
"We consistently, for two months, had people shouting racial slander from their cars," R.E. Wall told AZCentral. "We had children painting with us, and here come these yells of (epithet for Blacks) and (epithet for Hispanics)." Wall explained that "because of the controversy," he was told to make the children’s faces lighter and happier.
Principal Jeff Lane, however, insisted that he had only received three complaints about the mural and that all he wanted was for the artists to "fix the shading on the children’s faces."
"We were looking at it from an artistic view," Lane claimed "Nothing at all to do with race." Lane’s order, however, came only after City Councilman Steve Blair had used his radio talk show to start a campaign for the mural to be removed… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Raw Story>
I’m not accusing Lane of racism. I’m accusing him of caving in to racism. His excuse that his order was artistic only is ludicrous, in light of the treatment the children suffered.
The source of the problem is that Arizona Republicans have made their support for racist policies the central focus of their political campaign. How shameful!
Every Republican in office is one Republican too many!
16 Responses to “Arizona: Dark is Dangerous”
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“You alright man? You’re looking a little ethnic.”
All that dry heat must melt an already screwed-up noodle.
I lived there for four years and I’m almost sane. 🙂
So they give into the racists? That’s only going to encourage them to be more racist. What a dumb assed move.
I got a FB post on my wall from a conservative “friend” yesterday. Here it is:
“Send them all back…the Arizona Law should be the national law……..sorry Lisa you knew that was coming.”
My response:
” That was completely unnecessary to send me that comment. If you want to live in your bigoted, racist world, then I suggest you move to AZ. The rest of us think they should be walled off. If you’re such a big man, then post it as your comment on your page and see how people throw you under the bus.”
WTF? I don’t throw my liberal shit in his face and I sure as hell don’t do it by posting on his wall where no one else can see it; I post it as a comment and then let my conservative and liberal friends duke it out. I moderate so it doesn’t get too heated and if insults are thrown, apologies must be made. But this was complete BS and waaayyyy over the top. Then last night because I was so pissed off, I had a nightmare that I was with this asshole at some party and he drugged me. I woke myself up to get out of that hellish nightmare.
I agree, Lisa.
On your frienemy, he’s pretty typical. They are blinded by their own fear and hate.
This is just … stunning. The neo-Nazi-backed bill they passed, and now this. And in SC, a senator calling a gubernatorial candidate, and our President, “ragheads.” I truly fear for this country. [personal note: HI, RANDAL :)]
Hi Candace. It’s pathetic, isn’t it?\
Shhh! Admitting you know Randal could get you sent to the GOP Guantanamo Gulag. 😉
Tom, I think everyone deplores racism. This is the 21st Century, and hopefully we have all moved past that. Illegal immigration is a whole other thing. In Canada, part of the legal immigration process is to screen folks for medical illnesses — especially contagious ones — so that they can be treated. Many of the people who come here are from countries where TB is endemic. As a result, in both Canada and the US, tuberculosis is on the rise again, and more specifically, MDR (multi-drug resistant) TB. This is being brought in by folks from other countries and is being spread. Would you not feel more comfortable knowing that folks who are entering your country with TB will at least be screened through the immigration process, and cured? Incidentally, every city in North America has a TB Clinic, and the screening process AND the medications are all free. But the only way to cure people is to screen them. Illegal immigrants don’t go through the screening process.
Just to play devil’s advocate, I think Arizona’s immigration law does have some basis in good judgment, and is not entirely racist.
Jo –
While I agree that tuberculosis is a significant ongoing public health concern, as a physician I also feel it proper to provide some corrections dealing with some of your statements – at least for the U.S.
The rate of TB in the U.S. has not only fallen, but it’s fallen at the greatest rate since records have been kept:
”Decrease in Reported Tuberculosis Cases—United States, 2009
“JAMA. 2010;303(18):1802-1806.
“MMWR. 2010;59:289-294
“Every year, CDC reports results from the National TB Surveillance System for the previous year. For 2009, a total of 11,540 tuberculosis (TB) cases were reported in the United States. The TB rate was 3.8 cases per 100,000 population, a decrease of 11.4% from the rate of 4.2 per 100,000 reported for 2008. The 2009 rate showed the greatest single-year decrease ever recorded and was the lowest recorded rate since national TB surveillance began in 1953.1 TB case counts and rates decreased substantially among both foreign-born and U.S.-born persons….”
Source:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/303/18/1802
… And
“Mar. 19, 2010
“ATLANTA – An unexpected big drop in new U.S. tuberculosis cases is probably because of stepped up screening and treatment of immigrants before they leave their native countries, health officials say.
“America’s TB rate dropped more than 11 per cent last year, the largest single-year decrease in more than 50 years of federal record keeping, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week. TB rates have been falling, but generally about 4 per cent a year.”
Source:
http://health.lifestyle.yahoo.ca/channel_health_news_details.asp?news_id=20872&news_channel_id=0&channel_id=0
So while I agree that TB is a problem, especially MDR and XDR TB, at least in the U.S. the rates are going down. (And I assume you’re referring to Canada when you say that every city has a TB clinic and the medicines are free.)
[NOTE to TomCat: I tried using the HTML coding you provided, which worked before, but now it seems to prevent posting – so I just used quotes rather than blockquotes.]
Great info, Nameless. See your comment below for what happened.
Josie, look at the records of the authors of this law docemented in several articles here. The US had copmparable screen processes and quarantine where applicable. And the only power Arizona law enfordement gains from this taw is to racially profile. But this post was not about the law. It was about the racial hatred that the GOP has ignited in Arizona and how it resulted in rabid righties calling school children such etithets as “nigger” and “spic”. I doubt you would deny that is racist.
That school principal may not be a racist, but if he makes his decisions based on the shoutings of a bunch of inbred rednecks as they drive by, he’s no better than they are.
Good point, Tom. Caving in to racism just engourages it.
Problems posting – HTML difficulties I wonder?
Nameless, it wasn’t an HTML problem. I use a spam filter here called Akismet that is nothing shout of fantastic. I don’t know why your attempts to comment set it off. This is only the second time it incorrectly identified a valid comment as SPAM. Your complete comment has now been released, and I apologize for the inconvenience.
SoINeedAName: I work for the Tuberculosis Control Division of the CDC, and I am familiar with the statistics. TB is dropping because of good surveillance. If that surveillance stopped — especially with people from endemic countries — statistics would go up again. People cannot stop being vigilant. (That is not to be confused with people being vigilanties.)
It is the vigilante aspect of GOP politics in Arizona to which I disagree, Josie.