Laborfest: Washington H.S. Murals:Beyond the Controversy

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Date:

Tuesday, July 09, 2019

Time:

7:30 PM - 9:30 PM

Event Type:

Teach-In

Organizer/Author:

Laborfest

Location Details:

ILWU Local 34 Hall, 801 Second St., San Francisco. Across 2d St from baseball stadium. Diagonally across King St from MoMo’s Restaurant. Walk the one mile from Market on Second or on the Embarcadero to 801 Second Street or take public transportation as follows:
T or N train from Embarcadero Station to Second and King Station, go to stadium side of King St, 801 2d St is to the left of the stadium;
30 or 45 bus from Market and Fifth Streets (Powell Station) to end of line at Townsend between Fourth and Third, then walk one block to 2d Street, then 1 blocks south on 2d to King St, cross King St to stadium side; 801 2d St is to the left of the stadium;
47 bus which starts at North Point at Fisherman’s Wharf, travels on Van Ness, 11th St, Bryant and ends at Cal Train Station at 4th and Townsend, then walk on Townsend 2 blocks to 2d Street, then walk 2 block South on 2d to King St, cross King Street to stadium side, 801 2d St is to the left of the stadium;
10 bus which runs from 24th and Potrero, on Rhode Island to 26th St, on Cesar Chavez St to Dakota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, DeHaro, Rhode Island at 16th St, on Townsend to Second Street AND from Van Ness on Pacific to Battery, on Battery to Second St to Third and Townsend, so get off at 2d Street and Townsend, then 1 block south on 2d to King St, cross King St to stadium side. 801 2d St is to the left of the stadium.

Beyond the Controversy: The George Washington High School Murals and the Removal of Public Art

The controversy over the Victor Arnautoff murals at George Washington High School brings to San Francisco the public discourse over public art that is interpreted to portray, or actually glorifies, a narrow Eurocentric view of history. This panel will open with a brief visual presentation on both the Arnautoff murals and the multicultural murals painted in response to them in the early 1970s and then discuss their interpretation and effective culturally-sensitive ways to educate through art. It will also explore how the contemporary mural movement portrays provocative themes and how to preserve progressive public art from censorship. The panel will include Robert Cherny (Arnautoff biographer), Lope Yap, Jr. (Washington High Alumni Association), Dewey Crumpler (painter of the 1971 murals at the George Washington High School), and a Native American art curator. The panel will be moderated by Harvey Smith (Living New Deal and National New Deal Preservation Association).

Victor Arnautoff's murals are a treasure at George Washington High School and at Coit Tower. He was a communist who was witchhunted in the 1950s for being such, and an anti-racist who insisted on telling the truth about American history, namely the fact that this country was built on the genocide of Native Americans, enslavement of Africans and the vicious exploitation of the labor of all nationalities, including children, that continues to this day. It is, by definition, racist to demand the removal and destruction of Arnautoff's truth-telling anti-racist murals simply because some students, not all, claim they are traumatized by the truth. We have yet to hear any of these same students demand the long overdue removal of Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps from all of the high schools of San Francisco, including Washington, which trains children to kill the workers of the world to maximize the profits of the oil companies and the munitions makers, the only reason the military exists. JROTC marches around the school in military uniform, an unthinkable traumatic experience to those of us who never attended a school where JROTC was allowed, and it should be traumatic to everyone. War is not a game; it is a horrifying nightmare.
See also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Arnautoff (1896-1979)
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2019/05/30/18823670.php
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2019/05/13/18823401.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxHijlewzoQ&feature=youtu.be
https://laborfest.net/event/beyond-the-controversy-the-george-washington-high-school-murals-and-the-removal-of-public-art/

For more information: https://laborfest.net/event/beyond-the-con...

Added to the calendar on Sun, Jun 16, 2019 3:08PM

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