In today's polarized political atmosphere where it seems like so many people simply aren't listening to others who disagree with them, much less talking with them, I was fascinated to read about highly successful (Black) artist and Temple University professor Karyn Olivier pushing back against a move by the University of Kentucky to remove a 1930s mural which depicts slaves as well as a tomahawk-wielding Native American about to attack a white woman. Karyn's commitment to dialogue -- including through art -- is something that we as a nation, including people on all sides of the very sensitive cultural issues much in recent news, need a lot more of.
Karyn Olivier Sculpture and Associate Professor at The Tyler School of Art and Architecture
Karyn's op-ed: Removing an offensive mural from the University of Kentucky isn’t ‘racial justice’
Students’ Calls to Remove a Mural Were Answered. Now Comes a Lawsuit.