As the most local act of the current historical whitewash hysteria being perpetrated all over the South, the mayor and City Council of Tyrone overreacted in the name of political correctness when petitioned by some people who apparently suddenly realized just how offensive is the sight of a mural that includes a Confederate soldier.
The mural was deemed so offensive that a red curtain was rolled in front of the wall so that nobody would be subjected to the sight.
Never mind that this mural has been in place behind the council dais for over 20 years. This mural was commissioned not in the 1890s or the 1940s. No, it was commissioned and painted just prior to the turn of the 21st century, a generation after the Civil Rights Act.
There were white and black voters in Tyrone in 1996 yet it seems that the inclusion of a soldier in gray was not so offensive then. Ask yourself, why now?
What’s really behind the curtain is the left again working to upset general racial harmony for political gain and to avert attention from the outright lawlessness in so many cities by pointing to old symbols in the South.
You see, if you show moral outrage towards a painting or statue, you can say that you are making society better without actually addressing any real sociological ills. And of course, if you speak out against this intimidation, they just label you racist.
Obviously, Tyrone can decide what decorates their town hall. If the citizenry, after open debate decide that a Confederate soldier, or a Native American, or a magnolia flower on their mural should be removed in the name of harmony, or if they just decide to paint the wall blue and put up a disco ball, that’s fine.
But to act with such absurd haste in deference to perceived potential violence or leftist rhetoric by pretending as though someone just pointed out that for two decades the council has been sitting in front of a pornographic scene straight out of Dante’s Inferno that must be immediately stricken from public view certainly looks like cowardice and kowtowing.
And now that this ridiculous action has been taken it’s tough to see how any debate on the subject has not already been corrupted. After all, they put a curtain in front of it so it must be really offensive! Get that disco ball polished.
The council might consider moving the curtain about six feet forward so that they sit behind it during session. Certainly, the actions of this group are offensive to even more people than is the mural.
Alan Felts
Peachtree City, Ga.
