Indiana Students Demand Removal Of 'Offensive' Thomas Hart Benton Painting Honoring Triumph Over KKK

Indiana Students Demand Removal Of 'Offensive' Thomas Hart Benton Painting Honoring Triumph Over KKK

Should every historical reference that evokes negative emotions be removed from campus?

The Indiana mural by Thomas Hart Benton is an homage to the Indiana press for breaking the Klan's grip on power in the state, but critics say its depictions of the KKK aren't just historical.

Nearly 1,600 signatories are asking the school to take down or cover the offending panel from A Social History of Indiana (1933), also known as the Indiana murals. But others are speaking up in support of the artwork, contending that Benton was looking to draw attention to the evils of the Klan.

“It is past time that Indiana University take a stand and denounce hate and intolerance in Indiana and on IU’s campus,” reads the petition, which argues that exposing students and faculty of color to the image of the KKK stands in violation of the school’s diversity policy and the student Right to Freedom From Discrimination."

Milo Yiannopoulos & Berkeley Patriots Cry Foul As Free Speech Week Falls Apart Over Incompetence

Milo Yiannopoulos & Berkeley Patriots Cry Foul As Free Speech Week Falls Apart Over Incompetence

Former Breitbart editor and style diva Milo Yiannopoulos promised to shake things up in Berkeley -- and hopefully inspire Antifa & friends to confirm every comment Trump has made about them -- with four straight days of conservative thought and luminaries. Billing the event Milo Yiannopoulos's Free Speech Week in Berkeley, all the major press reported that Steve Bannon would be joining Ann Coulter in raising hell on one of America's most liberal campuses. 

UC Berkeley said as late as Friday afternoon that they are prepared to spend more than $1 million for security at the events, bringing in hundreds of police officers from around the Bay Area. Other student leaders say the event is 'off'. 

Waiting For A Perfect Protest? Op-Ed Argues I Am The Problem, Not Antifa

Waiting For A Perfect Protest? Op-Ed Argues I Am The Problem, Not Antifa

Anne's comment: "Your op-ed sanitizes the reality of the antifa protest in Berkeley, claiming that my white woman 'perfect march' moderation (I see myself as very progressive) is a greater problem for you than antifa's right to promote anarchy -- breaking windows, shutting down businesses, creating chaos and hurting people -- because a white nationalist wants to speak on campus.

Many antifa members are as committed to overturning our govt and creating anarchy to support their vision of justice as are the white nationalists, from all I've read. Your op-ed says clearly that I -- who sued the NYPD over events in Harlem and won -- am a greater problem for social justice -- than antifa.

Those claims are 1) absurd and 2) counter-productive to the cause of social justice. I am happy to stand (and have stood ALWAYS) for BLM, as an example.

But if you also demand that I agree to no free speech for the dreadful Ann Coulter, that Condoleezza Rice is not permitted to speak on any university campus, and that I speak proudly on behalf of black-shirt violence that breaks windows and clubs people for NO obvious reason but creating chaos and overturning our economic system, then you must explain to me 1) why this is necessary; 2) how it will succeed and 3) exactly what kind of America you imagine creating in your so-called just country. " {End comment}

On AOC yesterday, I did discuss this issue and also posted the polls referenced in this op-ed. I posted a link to the clergy group that organized the counter-protests in Charlottesville and have absolutely no issue with them. But if they are arguing -- as they seem to be -- that I must support a host of other actions, like antifa in Berkeley, I cannot support that violence. I do not support anarchy and the total overturning of capitalism in America, as antifa seeks (not that I think it's even possible). ~ Anne