The Colorado Springs Gazette final

Colorado College and FAC are wrong on mural removal

Joe barrera, Ph.d., is the former director of the ethnic Studies Program at UCCS. He teaches american Southwest History and u.s. military History. He is a combat veteran of the vietnam War.

It’s no exaggeration to say that I love my alma mater, Colorado College. The college has been like a mother to me. That’s what alma mater means, “fostering or nurturing mother.” Like a wise mother, she taught me to keep my eyes open. I was nurtured by my professors at the college, mostly white Anglo men, to look with a skeptical eye at the righteous indignation of the crowd. We have seen far too much righteous indignation lately, mostly very strong conservative indignation, and a weaker version from the liberals. Regardless of political leanings, it’s a good thing to be skeptical of the indignant ones, even when they seem to have morality on their side. The college taught me skepticism and I am glad for it. So, it is with great regret that I now call out “my mother” for mistakes committed in the name of anti-racism.

I am dismayed that the college, which now owns the Fine Arts Center, is removing two murals by the WPA artist Ward Lockwood. Like almost all WPA artists, Lockwood was a progressive who lived in Taos and painted Native Americans and Mexicans. He was not a racist. But Colorado College thinks that his murals are racist.

Jim Raughton, the former chair of the Fine Arts Center Board, is banned from the FAC because he dared to oppose the new doctrine at the FAC. I stand with Raughton. This is wrong. I am ashamed that my beloved alma mater would descend to that level of arrogance. I have looked at the two murals in question. One depicts a minstrel, probably a white person in black face, but that is open to interpretation. Regardless, the minstrel figure does not have a derogatory appearance.

The other depicts a kneeling Black man, probably meant to represent Uncle Tom of the famous anti-slavery novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” In that sense, this mural would appear to be anti-racist. When I was teaching American literature, we read “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” It’s often ignored now but it is a great American novel. It lays bare the sin and shame of slavery. Much that is great in our culture is great because it exposes American faults. That is a national trait of ours, to examine our collective conscience and say, “mea culpa.”

This can sometimes go to an extreme. The indignant ones at the FAC see the Black figures as negatively stereotyped. I feel that they are not and that the zeal of the reformers is completely misguided. They want to remove genuine art. Let’s be clear, art is understood not to be Confederate monuments, which are a glorification of a racist regime. To remove or hide the murals at the FAC is a type of iconoclasm, an ideological attempt to force conformity to a dubious and shifting social standard. The righteous ones fail to appreciate that true art does not conform to social trends or to an “evolving understanding of racism,” as the case is made to be in regard to the murals. True art does not “evolve” to fit changing social norms. Art has not and will not fit into society’s mold. Art always breaks the mold.

And what about the students at the college? They are the ones for whom the Fine Arts Center exists. Students come to CC to receive a liberal arts education, the hallmark of which is a consideration of diverse perspectives. They won’t get that if the college descends into an authoritarian mode.

I respect students. As a professor, I know that even 18-year-old college freshmen can understand nuance and complexity. The Lockwood murals are wonderfully nuanced.

And what about the public? The FAC exists for us, too, not solely for Colorado College, contrary to what some there might arrogantly believe. The FAC is here for all of us, “town and gown,” and we, the community, have a right to determine what is good art, what is not good art, and what is publicly shown in a respectful manner.

OP/ED

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2021-11-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://daily.gazette.com/article/282454237264693

The Gazette, Colorado Springs