University to Remove Murals from 1950s Because They Show Too Many White People

The University of Rhode Island has two folk-art murals that were painted in the 1950s by Dr. Arthur Sherman, an alumnus and veteran (who would also teach at the university) to honor those who had fought in the war from URI. The murals depict students talking to each other and and traveling to campus in the era of the GI Bill. These murals are in the school’s Memorial Union, but they are currently covered up and will soon be removed, all because some students did not “feel comfortable” sitting near them because the people in the murals are “predominately white,” according to Kathy Collins, vice president of student affairs.

Collins cites the “tragic murders” of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Jacob Blake as important reasons why the murals have to go.

I think we have to recognize the horrible incidents and the tragic murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and most recently Jacob Blake in Kenosha Wisconsin during this is heightened time and we as an institution have to look at the systems in place across this institution that maybe are not representing who we are today and representing the true diversity of URI today.

According to The College Fix, artist Arthur Sherman told CBS 12 that “[t]ime goes by and things change,” but his daughter, Pamela Sherman, does not seem as accepting of the change.

Pamela Sherman, his daughter, told CBS that university officials could preserve history while adding other artwork.

Pamela said the murals give URI an “opportunity for them to capture a moment in time in their history” and said the school should “maintain the timeline of that history over the many generations.”

“It’s an opportunity for the University of Rhode Island to embrace its history, it’s an opportunity for it to show a timeline, a progression and a change over decades and we never want to forget our past.”

Originally the University said that the murals could not be removed without damaging them and the walls, so they would be destroyed, but now URI says they are looking into ways of relocating them.

White people even existing in historical paintings is now deemed unacceptable, since it makes some non-White feel uncomfortable. It does not seem to matter if White people feel comfortable with having their history erased, their ancestors demonized, and their entire culture attacked on a daily basis. Getting rid of murals that are “too White” is just one more aspect of White genocide, which has been accelerating at an alarming pace.

Tragically, if men like Sherman did not go to war to fight against “the Nazis” in WWII, ensuring the victory of world jewry, we would not be in this position today.

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