What blacks activists who try to block views of Dana
Schutz’s “Open Casket", demanding the artist destroy it, don't understand
is that this high-handed approach diminishes the appeal of what's right about
Black Lives Matter, and that of the whole movement against racism.
It sows doubt.
Came across it in myself today when reading about protests
of a police shooting of a black guy. For a second, a split second, I hesitated
as I asked myself: are these protestors the same people who want to forbid me
from seeing a painting, who think it should be destroyed?
If so. . .
I got over it. I know where I stand about police murders.
But to reiterate, the protestors who stand in front of Dana
Schutz’s “Open Casket" don't have any idea of the damage they're doing.
Excellent arguments have been mounted against this act of
would-be censorship but the one I haven't heard is the one I'm making here:
it's a real turn-off, encouraging sympathizers, of whatever race, not to care,
not to trust, to think twice, and maybe turn away.
Not from the painting. From the movement.