Obama Approves of 'Ruby Bridges' at White House

Uncle Sam | 450 hits | Sep 05 7:31 am | Posted by: raydan

President Barack Obama has taken a decidedly low-key approach to racial issues since he became America’s first black president two years ago. But in a hallway outside the Oval Office, he has placed a head-turning painting depicting one of the ugliest raci

Comments

by raydan
Mon Sep 05, 2011 2:38 pm
"The problem we all live with", by Norman Rockwell. I think we all remember having seen this painting in our past. Hell, some of us even remember when this went down.
by martin14
Mon Sep 05, 2011 4:47 pm
Nothing like stoking the fires...
by Gunnair
Mon Sep 05, 2011 4:50 pm
"martin14" said
Nothing like stoking the fires...

How so?
by martin14
Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:14 pm
Let's say the painting doesn't promote racial harmony... rather the opposite.

A preview of the future, perhaps.
by Gunnair
Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:19 pm
"martin14" said
Let's say the painting doesn't promote racial harmony... rather the opposite.

A preview of the future, perhaps.

Possibly. Or an acknowledgment of the past.
by raydan
Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:22 pm
I was only 7 when this happened but I remember it pretty well, even understanding at the time that it was something important.

Notice the "N" word on the wall, the KKK and the tomato. What you don't see are the nice white mothers yelling racial slurs at that little girl... and the faces of the Marchals.
by raydan
Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:26 pm
"martin14" said
Let's say the painting doesn't promote racial harmony... rather the opposite.

A preview of the future, perhaps.

I see it as showing us that the world, and us, can change for the better.

Are you going to hide the past because it doesn't reflect the present?
Might as well tear down all those war memorials then.
by andyt
Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:28 pm
I think it makes a great statement how far the US has come - A black pres hanging this pic. And of course, as the Tea party shows, how far there still is to go.
by Freakinoldguy
Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:28 am
Yup.

The extreme right in the states has the Tea Party and the extreme left in Canada has mapleleafer1985.
by Anonymous
Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:14 pm
"martin14" said
Let's say the painting doesn't promote racial harmony... rather the opposite.

A preview of the future, perhaps.

Read the article dude. The painting captures a real moment in US history.
by bootlegga
Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:33 pm
"raydan" said
Let's say the painting doesn't promote racial harmony... rather the opposite.

A preview of the future, perhaps.

I see it as showing us that the world, and us, can change for the better.

Are you going to hide the past because it doesn't reflect the present?
Might as well tear down all those war memorials then.

Exactly what I was thinking Raydan - with Martin's POV I guess Obama should remove all references in the White House to 9/11, Pearl Harbor, the Civil War, etc as well.
by DanSC
Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:40 pm
It's quite an important painting. I just wish it was at the Smithsonian's National Art Gallery and not in the private sections of the White House.
by andyt
Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:41 pm
And here I always thought of Norman Rockwell as a defender of white privilege.
by raydan
Tue Sep 06, 2011 4:03 pm
"andyt" said
And here I always thought of Norman Rockwell as a defender of white privilege.

Maybe this may explain a bit...
http://kenlairdstudios.hubpages.com/hub ... s-painting

The African-American, for the first time in Rockwells career, did not take a back seat in order to keep advertisers in a magazine. Norman Rockwell was released from the unwritten law that no blacks should be shown unless in subservient roles and the chains of artistic freedom where taken off in this piece.