One of the protest’s leaders: “In my opinion, the skin tones aren’t horribly clear, but they all have what appears to be African-American hair.”
Via Helena IR:
A discussion this week on social media about two drawings on the wall of the Sunrise Saloon that some see as racist has led to plans for a protest at the bar next weekend.
Helping to organize the protest is Danielle Breck who, along with four others, is listed as one of the hosts on the event’s Facebook page. Breck and others have left reviews on the bar’s Facebook page calling the artwork racist.
Breck got involved after she was approached by her friend and another host of the protest, Yolanda Garcia, who was upset by two paintings at the Sunrise Saloon — an image of a black man holding a whiskey bottle with the caption, “I knows de ropes” and another of three men hanging, a photo that Breck said appears to depict a lynching.
“In my opinion, the skin tones aren’t horribly clear, but they all have what appears to be African-American hair,” Breck said. “Not super obviously clear they are black, but when the owner said to us when we walked in the first time was, ‘You want me to paint them white, I’ll paint them white,’ and it’s a painting he commissioned.”
Kammy Zavarelli, owner of the Sunrise Saloon, said she was getting payroll done on Friday and did not yet want to speak publicly about the artwork. She said she would address the issue sometime next week.[…]
Beverly Edmond is the University of Montana interim provost and vice-president for academic affairs. In 2016, she and a colleague published the book ‘Trailblazing African American Public Administrators.’ For her, the issue isn’t about hiding the history of Montana, but about providing appropriate context for images like these.
Edmond has visited the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture where there are photos displayed of African-Americans being lynched, but those photos are presented as a dark part of America’s history, she said. The museum also acknowledges the country has moved beyond that, Edmond said.
The art would make Edmond feel uncomfortable as a customer and she would raise her concerns about the artwork with others, she said.
“Would I go beyond to protest, insist they take it down? No. I won’t cross that line,” Edmond said.
Edmond supports the bar’s freedom to display things the images, even if the display shows a lack of sensitivity, she said.