Comments on: Shocking Art @ Your Library

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:13:14 +0000

Also, There’s not a whole lot of deity-disguised-as-waterfowl rape going on in the world today, at least to my knowledge, so is it any wonder Leda and the Swan is a less threatening image to people than racial violence and garden variety human-on-human rape?

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 21:32:22 +0000

AL, I think you’re missing part of West’s point. She didn’t claim artwork needed to be uplifting. She said she needed to see something uplifting. The mission of the library is not the same as the mission of an art gallery. The library should be a welcoming and inviting place for patrons to visit. Walker’s work certainly has something to teach, but it does not create an environment where people can focus on research or enjoy the library space. I’m sure there are books in the library that explore the tragedies of black oppression in America’s past. Removing the picture will not deprive anyone who is seeking that information from acquiring it.

I don’t think the picture should be covered up. It needs to be accessible, but not where it is now. Removing it is very different from banning a graphic novel for mature content. If you’re not interested in a book, you don’t have to read it, but a wall display is unavoidable. It is the library’s mission to provide access to the books the community has a demand for. It is not the library’s mission to force an image on people who haven’t sought it out.

By: Cut Both Ways

Cut Both Ways — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:02:38 +0000

“Welcome to the public library! Remember slavery?”

By: Public Librarian

Public Librarian — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 16:40:37 +0000

Great response noutopian librarian!

By: Dan Kleinman

Dan Kleinman — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 15:50:23 +0000

@noutopian librarian and @thierry have very interesting/thoughtful responses. @Sarah Last’s comment was short but sweet. Thanks, everyone.

By: Joneser

Joneser — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 23:33:55 +0000

I think he’s saying that all of those criminals don’t deserve anything better . . . everyone in Newark acts like that. Or something. The usual twaddle. Like Barbara Bush and her comments about hurricanes and New Orleans residents.

By: noutopian librarian

noutopian librarian — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 17:44:44 +0000

@Arthur Wendt
Leaving aside the question of whether Newark should cover or remove the piece in question (I tend to agree with Thierry), to contend that ancestors of white Europeans haven’t suffered centuries of repression, violence and abuse, or as Michelle believes, that we who have white ancestors should feel shamed by the acts of our ancestors, is both willfully ignorant of history as well as selectively prejudicial. Slavery has existed in most human cultures, and African slave trade preceded the trade by black and Arab Africans to Europeans by centuries, even millenia. As horrific as the slave trade to the United States and other Western nations is, it is part of a history of enslavement that spans the globe and is not specific to skin color. If whites of European ancestry should be collectively ashamed of the behavior of people who share their skin color and lived in the past, then people of African and Asian and native American should feel the same sense of shame. Perhaps those of African doubly so for enslaving others in their own lands to sell to the highest bidder, regardless of the buyers skin color.

Slavery is a horrific aspect of human nature, as is rape and violence. All continue to thrive in the world right now – you don’t have to look into the past – look at Maritania, Sudan, Mali, and Niger, among others. Don’t forget to include Chinese and North Korean labor camps, forced servitude including forced prostitution in Bangladesh, and human trafficking for forced labor throughout the world, including the United States and Europe.

The history and existence of slavery deserves education, artistic depiction such as that of Ms. Walker’s, and continued campaigning to abolish it’s existence. Accusatory attitudes toward people based on their skin color and presumed ancestry is ignorant and helps nothing. The fact that my Celtic ancestors enslaved Brits and were enslaved by Vikings, and so on into the dim reaches of humanity is part of history, not something I’m ashamed of though I would resist its return, even to my death. Perhaps a similar perspective regarding the continued existence of enslavement in black Africa would be more productive than shaming white people for the actions of people who may or may not be part of their ancestry.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 16:45:35 +0000

I believe you’re missing AL’s point. AL isn’t saying that white people should be offended or shocked by the image, but that white people are the ones being depicted in a negative way. The white people whose ancestors did the negative acts depicted in the image should be the ones who feel ashamed, not the black people viewing the image. The image is about exactly what you are talking about, the legacy of white on black brutality. I feel strange about that being allowed to be covered up by cloth, instead of being out there for peoplet to see and feel and discuss.

By: Sarah Last

Sarah Last — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 11:15:07 +0000

I find it offensive that the viewers who were upset totally ignored the historical context of the drawing and only concentrated on one image in particular.

By: Arthur Wendt

Arthur Wendt — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 05:04:43 +0000

How is offense over this picture and Newark’s high crime rate related? I have a hard time understanding how one has anything to do with the other.

I live in a suburb of Newark, and work in the city within view of the main branch of the public library. I’ll ask around for you and save you the trip.