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Aid for Hurricanes, How About Detroit?

  • Posted on July 31, 2013 at 5:44 pm

 

Rivera_detroit_industry_southRivera_detroit_industry_north

Detroit has been bleeding for years and nobody seemed to care but now that the wound is completely open and oozing there appears to be even less protection for Detroit from the doom of bankruptcy.  Is it doom or is it part of the long-term plan for revitalization of the city?  From my viewpoint, much like the carpetbaggers in the south, the entrepreneurs of today are swooping in to pick on Detroit’s carcass and digest the last remaining morsels of a once vibrant city for the sole purpose of making a buck.  There is money to “be made” in Detroit and politicians seem eager to get in on the action.  Everyone knows it except for the downtrodden, jobless, and those just getting by.  Detroit, which was the motor city, the home of Motown, and the birthplace of so many creative people is now the dead carcass left for the pickings of the rich entrepreneurs with connections.  I have no doubt that Detroit is going to raise again much like a Phoenix.  However, many people are going to lose a lot in this transition period.

 

It is difficult for me to understand why the federal government hasn’t taken much interest in the cause of saving Detroit.  I see what has happened in Detroit as being no different from a natural disaster much like Katrina, Sandy Hook, or the countless hurricanes in Florida.  The federal government recognizes the need to swoop in and revitalize places hit by “natural disasters”.  However, Michigan hit by its own form of a natural disaster, albeit economic, simply is ignored and left to its own devices.  I am sure some people will remind me to remember the auto bailout.  However, that was for a company, not for the people of Michigan.  Yes, many benefited because they didn’t lose their job, but nothing has been done about the losses in Detroit.  I still cannot believe that Detroit’s population has dwindled to just over 700,000.  It is just amazing to think of all of those people leaving.  Much of the disaster that is now named Detroit was caused by unfair trade practices and the push for globalization.  Our government pushed for these policies, which have hurt so many in our country and have continued to cause depletion in manufacturing industries across the country.  There are probably many other cities, like Detroit, that are much in the same boat.

 

While watching the news I learned that we are continuing our financial aid to Egypt.  This caused me to look up how much we spend on aid to other countries and I discovered that it is around $50 billion a year.  We invest in these countries seemingly to promote our own agenda.  However, why are we ignoring the continued plight in our own country?  Everyone I talk to wants the roads fixed, bridges repaired, school buildings made safe, and many other things completed.  Nothing ever is done.  All we hear about is privatization.  The drumbeat is, “Government can’t do anything right and private corporations do it right.”  Is this what is happening in Detroit?  Are we selling off Detroit to private corporations?  Is Bill Gates or someone like him, going to buy the DIA?  Every time I drive to Chicago, I cringe at the thought of privatization when I pay those ungodly toll trolls.  Recently, I saw the results of privatization in my own classroom at school.  I saw a room prepped for the school year that just lacks some basic cleaning.  It is a matter of pride.  I remember the pride that the local workers took in my room when they had managed to get all the paint splatters out of the sink.  I don’t see that in my room any more.  Schools in Michigan have been nudged towards privatization of some services and this could eventually lead to teaching as well.  I personally don’t see how a “for profit” company is going to make schools better and I am not sure it is the best choice for Detroit.  However, I don’t have a real voice in this fight.  I am just a voter.  I am not a citizen of Detroit and our senators don’t seem particularly moved to do anything about this issue either.  All I can do is voice my opinion about the issue.  It isn’t hard to see where I am coming from.  I am just a online voice for the little people, the voiceless, those that don’t have the money or means to be an entrepreneur and go out and make a profit off from this situation.

I just don’t want the Detroit Institute of Art to be sold off in a fire sale to the top bidder.  I don’t want people to lose their pensions for pennies on the dollar.  I think we are better than that.  I think we are a nation that when push comes to shove we stand up for each other.  We take care of our own.  It’s time we started doing this again.  We have to stop looking at our neighbors and worrying about the “SNAP”, they may be on, and start thinking what we can do to help each other.  How can I make my students lives better when they are having a hard time?  Detroit is no different.  How can we help this situation as a nation?  We step up when other states face national disasters why can’t we do this for Detroit?

 

Detroit holds potential to be a great destination city as it is unique in its placement on the water and is a heartbeat from Canada.  It has treasures like the DIA, Belle Isle, and of course other nearby attractions like the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village.  It is obvious that the entrepreneurs are aware of all of this.  We cannot let all of this become some kind of playground for the rich and powerful.  Detroit has to be kept open to the public.  It cannot and should not become a place where only the connected are wanted.  Stephen Colbert and many others have made jokes about the city.  Detroit has become a laughing stock but seriously can’t we do more?  When Stephen spoke to the Detroit Free Press editor, Stephen Henderson, it is interesting to note that Henderson said his wife is the marketing director at the DIA.  Let’s hope that doesn’t mean she is ready to market the art.  I will never forget the Diego Rivera mural, which to me represents Detroit in the best way.  It doesn’t belong anywhere but in Detroit.  Detroit is bleeding.  Where are the Red Cross and FEMA when we need them?

 

Governors Gone Wild…..or is it ROUGUE?

  • Posted on April 2, 2011 at 3:38 pm

Labor Panel 7-9 which depicts Frances Perkins and the artist's parents.

It seems like every day some strange new occurrence is happening with Republican governors these days.  As an art teacher I find the latest happenings in Maine to be an insult to history and art.  In Maine a call went out to artists to depict the history of labor in the state of Maine for a mural to be put up in the Department of Labor building.  Judy Taylor won the commission.  She spent a year studying Maine labor history and creating the mural.  A fact most people probably don’t really know is that Frances Perkins is the first woman labor secretary.  She worked with FDR and many of the programs that we all know about today like Social Security, unemployment insurance, and child labor laws developed under FDR because of Frances pushing for them.  Now what does Frances have to do with Maine you ask?  She was born in Boston but her family came from Maine and that is where she really felt her home was.  The Perkins family has a long history in Maine.

Governor LePage decided that the mural, which depicts the history of labor and working people in Maine, had to go because it just wasn’t business friendly.  He had a complaint about the mural and so, it just had to go.  Even though the artist was commissioned to do the work and there wasn’t a problem prior to LePage being elected as governor, it had to go!  Judy Taylor is the artist.  I’ve decided she MUST be a subversive!  She must have secretly painted images to create propaganda and to control the minds of the people.  It must have been the images she used of her mother and father that put the governor over the top.  They were both depicted in the Frances Perkins panel.  She must be a SOCIALIST for depicting such a painting.  Okay, I’m laughing while I’m writing this.  I’m just so surprised that someone with the intellect of Governor LePage is actually running a state.  You can see the mural at Judy’s website.  See for yourself what has Governor LePage so distraught that he felt the need to CENSOR the artwork.  I’m sorry.  The word censor might mean he covered certain parts but no, he removed the entire piece.  No part of it was worthy of human, visual consumption in the state of Maine.  It has been put in storage and maybe it will be put on display somewhere else in Maine or maybe it won’t!

http://www.judytaylorstudio.com/mural1.html

Judy Taylor, the Artist

Here is Judy Taylor’s statement about what has happened in Maine.

Judy Taylor: Statement concerning the Maine Labor Mural March 30, 2011 As the artist who created the mural, people ask me how I feel about what’s

happening and what I would like to see done. Like many of the people of

Maine, I want to see the mural displayed publicly as it was originally

intended. I want people to see it and connect to Maine’s labor history. The

purpose of the mural is historical, the artistic intent to honor. It belongs

to the people of Maine and needs to be accessible to them.

Painting the mural is what I have trained my entire life to do. The theme of

figure and context is what I set out to chronicle in my career as an artist.

In fact, my first painting as a child was of my grandfather on his farm in

Nebraska, in the context of his work and life. I loved seeing my

grandparents work and followed my grandmother all over her farm and rode with

my grandfather as he delivered oil around the state.

I’ve always had a deep curiosity and passion for my family’s history as well

as our nation’s history, so when in 2007 I learned that the Maine Arts

Commissions was requesting submissions for a commissioned piece of artwork

detailing the history of labor in Maine, I immediately entered the

competition.

After a competitive process, I was awarded the commission and commenced upon

a year of research, preparation of archival materials, sketches of stories in

context based on historical fact and painting the panels. I added one

personal piece which was to include my mother and father as I had lost both

of them the previous year. My father is the young Army officer and my mother

the little girl in the Frances Perkins panel. My father served as a Forward

Observer during the Korean War and was awarded a Bronze Star. He was a man

who stood by every word he spoke, every letter he wrote. It was so

heartbreaking to learn that this controversy may have started with an

anonymous letter comparing this mural to a North Korean propaganda poster.

Perhaps we should hang my father’s Bronze Star for his service in Korea in

the now empty reception area of the Maine Department of Labor until the mural

is returned, as a symbol of the importance of remembering our history, and

not shuttering it away.

Robert Reich wrote a great piece on this subject.  I encourage you to read it because no matter what Governor LePage does, he cannot erase history!

http://yubanet.com/opinions/Robert-Reich-Why-Governor-LePage-Can-t-Erase-History-and-Why-We-Need-a-Fighter-in-the-White-House.php

What has become of our country when art is being censored?  Actually, this isn’t the first time art was removed for a controversial reason.  Anyone that is a student of the art of Diego Rivera will know about the mural that he created for Nelson Rockefeller.

http://www.diego-rivera.org/rockefellercontroversy.html

Let’s just hope the Detroit Institute of Arts doesn’t decide Rivera’s Detroit Industry murals to be too controversial for the viewing public to see.

A Panel From Detroit Industry

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103337403

It’s a sorry state I see our country in when governors can go wild with legislation to destroy public unions, limit collective bargaining and remove public art.  In the preamble for our constitution I don’t remember any mention of dictatorship.  It simply says, “We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”  It’s “WE THE PEOPLE” and we have a right to determine how we run our government.  I think it’s time to start recalling these so called “servants of the people” and get true representation.