Thoughts in a Haystack

I certainly can't draw more attention to this than PZ Megahertz and Wonkette already have but there are some things that maybe need to be highlighted some more.

The basic story is that a mural was being painted on two walls outside Miller Valley Elementary School in Prescott, Arizona, that was designed to advertise a campaign for environmentally friendly transportation. It features portraits of four children, with a Hispanic boy as the dominant figure.

Some of the good citizens of Prescott took it upon themselves to demonstrate that the real impetus behind Arizona's recent "immigration" law was making Arizona safe for whites only by driving by as the mural was being painted (including by the school children) and shouting "Nigger" and "Spic." A City Councilman, Steve Blair, who had a radio show on the local conservative rant radio:

... spearheaded a public campaign on his talk show at Prescott radio station KYCA-AM (1490) to remove the mural.

In a broadcast last month, according to the Daily Courier in Prescott, Blair mistakenly complained that the most prominent child in the painting is African-American, saying: "To depict the biggest picture on the building as a Black person, I would have to ask the question: Why?"

... Blair ... insists the controversy isn't about racism but says the mural is intended to create racial controversy where none existed before.

"Personally, I think it's pathetic," he says. "You have changed the ambience of that building to excite some kind of diversity power struggle that doesn't exist in Prescott, Arizona. And I'm ashamed of that."

"We asked them to fix the shading on the children's faces," he said. "We were looking at it from an artistic view. Nothing at all to do with race."

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 11:05 AM