cleansing the past
University of Georgia to Alter Mural [ap via abcnews, march 29, 2005]University of Georgia officials said Monday they would alter a wall-sized mural commemorating the school’s integration because of complaints it contained a racial slur.
The mural features a photo of the former Charlayne Hunter, the first black woman admitted to the university, pushing her way through a mob in 1961, along with the highlighted quote of words shouted then: “Make way for the nigger.”
this bothers me for two reasons… one is that it is about the legacy, and it’s a bitter, controversial and emotionally-charged legacy. second is that i’d never have known about this mural if it weren’t for the racial slur it included, so the art worked. once it’s altered and this vanishes into the archives, i’ll forget about it, and that’s not a good thing.