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Original Content at https://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Bleaching-of-Arizona-by-Daniel-Vojir-100605-382.html (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). |
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June 6, 2010
The Bleaching of Arizona
By Rev. Dan Vojir
The treatment of a mural in Prescott, Arizona has gone viral with the face of racism coming out of that state and its immigrations policies. The mural is on two sides of a K-5 school, depicts some of the actual kids in the school and is the subject of intense debate. To calm down the controversey, the principal of the school is ordering the faces of the (mostly) Latino children LIGHTENED.
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"I'm not a racist by any stretch of the imagination, but whenever people start talking about diversity, it's a word I can't stand.
- Steve Blair, KYCA-AM talk show host and Prescott City Councilman.
A mural on the side of an elementary school in Prescott, AZ is quickly becoming the icon of Arizona's legislative and educational goals. It depicts the actual children of the school in solidarity for green transportation. Sounds cool, eh? But one city councilman/broadcaster wants it destroyed. Because the most prominant child in the large mural is black. And most of the other kids are ...brown.
While painting it, the local artists were subjected to the epithets of "nigger" and "spic" shouted out of passing cars. The principal of the school has decided that the best thing to do under the circumstances is to lighten the faces of the kids!
R.E. Wall, director of the Prescott Downtown Mural Project, described weeks of tense working conditions for the "Mural Mice," the group of artists responsible for the Miller Valley mural and several others around town.
Wall reports hearing comments such as "You're desecrating our school," "Get the ni----- off the wall," and "Get the sp-- off the wall."
"The pressure stayed up consistently," Wall said. "We had two months of cars shouting at us."
Faces in the mural were drawn from photographs of the Miller Valley School (no student over 10 years old, Miller Valley being only a K-5 school). The artwork was chosen by both students and faculty.
Steve Blair, the broadcaster/councilman says he is "ashamed" of the "diversity power struggle" that he thinks is depicted in the mural.
It
hasn't been reported yet what the children in the mural think about
their images being lightened to conform with Prescott's image of
itself. Neither has it been said what they think of the people of
Prescott who obviously hate them.
Prescott's image is getting to be the image of Arizona as well.
The Law and The Wall
President
Obama recently met with Arizona Governor Jan Brewer to discuss the
illegal immigration situation faced by Arizona. She was emphatic that
the new law empowering law enforcement to demand proof of citizenship
was not engineered for racial profiling. She also insisted on the 1200
troops promised to beef up border patrol and completion of the security
wall at the border.
She said that the meeting was "cordial." I'll bet.
And the 3 R's
From Think Progress, April 30:
Today, the Wall Street Journal reports that the Arizona Department of Education "recently began telling school districts that teachers whose spoken English it deems to be heavily accented or ungrammatical must be removed from classes for students still learning English":
Etnic Studies as Chauvanism:
[State Superintendent for Public Instruction Tom Horne] claimed the ethnic studies program encourages "ethnic chauvanism," promotes Latinos to rise up and create a new territory out of the southwestern region of the United States and tries to intimidate conservative teachers in the school system.
Unfortunately,
the "conservative teachers in the school system" may be the
chauvanists, literally trying to whitewash the school system while
teaching that ethnicity is not "American." The slant of Arizona's new
laws will definitely create a slope as slippery as snow on frozen rain:
people WILL be profiled, children WILL be dicriminated against and
taught only nationalism. Ugly racism WILL increase. Education WILL
suffer.
If Thomas Jefferson were here now, he would weep for the inequality of man in the southwest. Then again, his tears wouldn't matter - he's been demoted in Texas history.
Authors Website: http://sacredcowsmakethebesthamburgers.blogspot.com
Authors Bio:
Rev. Dan Vojir is has been writing/blogging on religion and politics for the better part of ten years. A former radio talk show host (Strictly Books €" Talk America Radio Network) and book publisher, Dan has connected with some of the most interesting people of our time: Steve Allen, William F. Buckley, Alan Ginsburg, Armisted Maupin, Anne Rice, Grace Slick, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Patricia Nell Warren, and Betty White.
He is also an ordained minister in the ULC and has studied extensively on the subject of the Bible and homosexuality. Additional articles can be read on his blog, The Devil and Dan Vojir.
Future goals and activities: a new ministry focusing on reaching personal spiritual levels without the outside influence of proselytism or evangelism called The Church of the Inner Preacher. This ministry will be included in a new website The Devil and Dan Vojir.
Vojir's main goal: to root out hypocrisy in religion and politics. "If only one person is saved from being killed or bashed by inane bigotry, then I'll have accomplished what I was put on earth to do: To Live and Help Live."
http://sacredcowsmakethebesthamburgers.blogspot.com