This couldn’t be more perfect:
In both cases, the teens were told to create honest portrayals of their lives and the issues they face, but they found out that some people didn’t want to see the full picture.
I don’t run into a lot of younger folks (under 20) anymore. But I do read some, and so many that I run across in that context seem to be so much more mature than I was at the same age. I am so impressed by today’s young folks. I will now stop saying young folks because it makes me feel like I’m about to poof into dust.
Anyway, this is another example of the “Tell me how you are feeling” and then also responding with, “Not like that!”
Flair Doherty said a Smithsonian staff member approached her and the other teen artists and told them she believed the “Free Palestine” slogan was “antisemitic and hateful.” Doherty, who is Jewish, said she told her she disagreed, “We talked for maybe three minutes and did not really get anywhere.”
”We went over the next day and it was completely covered in tarps,” said 18-year-old artist Léda Pelton, who had not yet finished her section of the mural about cars and college acceptance.
Pelton said Smithsonian officials told them they covered it up because they were “afraid that somebody was going to walk by and see ‘Free Palestine’ on our mural and get mad and hurt us. And I’m like, ‘maybe we are not the problem in that situation.’”
Damn right, Léda.1 Those with power will always blame the folks with no power and barely any say in anything. Keep fighting and keep making art.
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And the other artists! ↩︎