School reverses decision to lighten Hispanic child's skin color in AZ mural; Examiner.com, 6/6/10

William Skordelis, Examiner.com; School reverses decision to lighten Hispanic child's skin color in AZ mural:

"The mural in Prescott Arizona which became the center of controversy when school officials had asked the artists to lighten the skin color of the children.

The "lightening" process began last Sunday, but by Friday, the national media had latched onto the story when R.E. Wall, the director of Prescott's Downtown Mural Project, told the Daily Courier a local Prescott newspaper about the story. He spoke of motorists hurling racial epithets at the "Mural Mice" the students who painted the mural, and labeled the reaction racist. School officials denied any racial motivation behind their decision and claimed "artistic" reasons for the change.

But the racial backlash against the project was fueled by Prescott City Councilman Steve Blair whose public comments against racial diversity and minorities, and the ethnic ratio of Prescott, were broadcast on his KYCA radio talk. And all the while denying that his comments were racist, or that he was a racist. Steve Blair has since been fired from the station.

Today the story took a turn for the best, when dozens of people protested the school board's decision to alter the original painting with light-skinned children. The decision was reversed today and the mural will be restored back to its ethnically correct state.

Diversity won this time, but there is no denying that racism and racial tension are not a thing of the past. Electing a black president was not proof that we had moved on from our dark past, instead it has proven just how far we really need to go.

If this nation can ever accept all races as equal we will have achieved something that seems at times unattainable, but then other times, like today, in Prescott, it seems a teeny-tiny bit closer."

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