Arizona school tells mural artist to “lighten” Black and Latino students’ faces

Pic via Prescott Courier
* See update below*
Just when you thought Arizona couldn’t possibly get any worse, via the Arizona Republic:

A group of artists has been asked to lighten the faces of children depicted in a giant public mural at a Prescott school.
The project’s leader says he was ordered to lighten the skin tone after complaints about the children’s ethnicity. But the school’s principal says the request was only to fix shading and had nothing to do with political pressure.
The “Go on Green” mural, which covers two walls outside Miller Valley Elementary School, was designed to advertise a campaign for environmentally friendly transportation. It features portraits of four children, with a Hispanic boy as the dominant figure.

Principal Jeff Lane claims the change has nothing to do with race, saying “We asked them to fix the shading on the children’s faces . . .We were looking at it from an artistic view.” This is despite the fact that just last month, City Councilman Steve Blair publicly called for the mural to be removed, saying the most prominent figure in the painting is Black (although the student is actually Latino), reason being to create “racial controversy”:

“To depict the biggest picture on the building as a Black person, I would have to ask the question: Why? […] Personally, I think it’s pathetic. You have changed the ambience of that building to excite some kind of diversity power struggle that doesn’t exist in Prescott, Arizona. And I’m ashamed of that.”

The only thing I see shameful and pathetic here is accusing a school’s mural featuring actual students that go there of “race-baiting.” And between Arizona’s recent horror of an immigration law, the erasure of ethnic studies in AZ schools last month, and the slew of racial slurs the artists and students endured while making the mural, to be the asshat who denies racism exists here just makes his racism all the more obvious.
Email Principal Jeff Lane and tell him he should be protecting his students, not abandoning them by bowing down to such hate. Steve Blair has an email too — go to town on his ass.
Via. (h/t to Jaybo)
UPDATE: Thanks to dozens of protesters and hundreds of other locals combating the change, the school has rescinded their decision and will be keeping the mural as is. In the meantime, local folks (including Prescott’s former mayor) are calling for Blair’s resignation. (Thanks to Matt for the heads up!)