I’m with Matt Vespa (writing at Townhall): I don’t see the cultural beauty of Native American tribes in this image (below). (In fact, from my experience with Native Americans, the image doesn’t represent them in any cultural way whatsoever.)
But Vespa has a relevant quote from the artist, Jodi Webster, who has perpetrated a painting of a young girl in a traditional jingle dress, carrying a huge knife and the bloody, severed head of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.
My intentions in creating works are to enlighten the perceptions of Native people as well as positively promote women and children. By highlighting my own heritage within my work, I hope to make others aware of the distinct cultural beauty represented by each of the various 566 tribal identities.
The image came to wider public attention when a member of a Wisconsin “environmental” group, Citizens Preserving the Penokee Hills Heritage Park, posted it on the group’s Facebook page.
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Olaf Ekberg at The American Mirror points out that the Penokee Hills group makes the following claim about its intent and policies:
According to administrators of the page, the purpose is to “provide an avenue for the distribution of research, education and information pertaining to preserving the Penokee Hills as a national heritage park in Northwestern Wisconsin.”
It adds, “This is not a forum for angry, violent or confrontational acts against people or property, but a forum focused on protecting the water, the resources and life giving aspects of the environment.”
But apparently it is a forum for depicting gruesome homicidal acts against perceived political enemies. Ekberg highlights — fairly — that some members of the group’s Facebook page have objected to the image.
Increasingly, the governor of conscience and self-restraint is entirely off in too many of our social interactions. Even five years ago, this interlude would have made a big splash, at least in conservative media. Today it’s likely to barely register as a blip. There are too many other horrors competing with it.
