And they’re not waves of amber grain, either.
Maybe it’s time to rebrand the Congressional Art Competition the “America Sucks Art Competition,” or better still do away with it altogether.
Last December, a painting by a black teen that depicted police literally as pigs precipitated a tug of war between Missouri Rep. William Lacy Clay , Jr., who is also black, and his more rational colleagues in the House of Representatives. The painting, which originally hung in the U.S. Capitol building was removed and returned a half dozen times before it was taken down permanently.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
The newest kerfuffle is over a painting done by another high schooler that shows the Statue of Liberty wearing a hijab.
This time the dispute is between Rep. J. Luis Correa (D-Calif.), who has the work hanging in his congressional office and an activist group. The group, known as “We The People Rising,” has written a letter to Correa requesting that he take the painting down, calling the Statue of Liberty’s link to any one religion “inaccurate, unprofessional and offensive.”
Statue of Liberty as a Muslim? Painting in Rep. Lou Correa’s office sparks complaints https://t.co/Kf0Run8412 pic.twitter.com/PWrs0l4uLK
— O.C. Register (@ocregister) August 3, 2017
Correa has refused to reveal the name of the student artist, other than to acknowledge that it is a female, so it’s hard to know for sure whether she is a Muslim. But it’s equally hard not to see the painting as provocative at a time when Muslim terrorists are fighting to realize their dream of a worldwide caliphate.
According to The Washington Post:
Correa said that he will not be taking down the painting. In an interview Tuesday morning …, Correa said the painting is an individual artist’s expression and is only hanging on the office wall because it was chosen as a finalist for the congressional competition. Policing art, and “what is proper, what is not,” he said, would violate freedom of speech laws and lead to a “very dangerous slippery slope.”
“My thoughts were, here’s probably a young Muslim lady who is trying very hard to be part of America, who is trying very hard to show people that she is an American, given the context that is going on around us in our country,” Correa said, speaking by phone from Jerusalem. “By me taking it down I’m acknowledging that she did something wrong.”
Trying to be part of America by co-opting a symbol that is uniquely associated with America and everything she stands for? I don’t think so.
(h/t Mental Recession)
