Remember when they said they just wanted everything Confederacy removed, and it was beyond silly to think they’d want to get rid of things featuring Founding Fathers like George Washington?
For nearly a century, a massive mural by painter Victor Arnautoff titled “The Life of Washington” has lined the hallways of San Francisco’s George Washington High School.
It may not be there much longer.
Washington High School’s Reflection and Action Working Group — an ad-hoc committee made up students, school employees and local artists, historians and Native Americans — believes the mural “glorifies slavery, genocide, colonization, manifest destiny, white supremacy (and) oppression,” according to a statement published in local media.
The group reportedly identified two panels as especially offensive. One shows Washington pointing westward next to the body of a dead Native American (pictured above). The other depicts slaves working in the fields of Mount Vernon.
Because the work “traumatizes students and community members,” the group’s statement concluded that “the impact of this mural is greater than its intent ever was.” They are campaigning for its removal.
Of course they are. Everything “traumatizes” them. Rather than understanding history, learning from it, they want to not just hide from it, but remove it from their view, and everyone else’s view.
The rest of the article is interesting, in that the authors argue against removing art, books, etc, that trigger the little snowflakes.
