and don't forget...

calling out racists means..

you are intolerant..

It is amazing how Obama's election has empowered the racists to come out of their holes. Pathetic and disgusting on so many levels.

Interesting. I note that the word *asshole* was created to define someone like Blair.

One wonders what planet these guys are from. Did they simply miss the last 50 years in this country?

As a postscript, Blair was removed from his radio show yesterday.
http://www.prescottenews.com/news/latest/steve-blair-fired-by-kyca

This does beg the question: if his own radio station fires him for his racist actions, why is the mural being changed to cater to his views?

And another thing, WTF is with the "there's two sides to every argument" statement in that article.

Proper deference must be given to the Neanderthal genome.

It probably goes without saying that Blair is a Republican.

Wow, for guys who hate minorities, these guys are trying real hard to set themselves up for minority status, huh?

Wonder if Mr. Blair has kids in that school?

Probably not. If he does he has just set his kids up for a rough time this fall.

-- "Did they simply miss the last 50 years in this country?"

No, they've really missed since oh... 1865.
The Civil war in this nation is NOT OVER.

Exactly why those of us who come from a long tradition of Republicans want nothing to do with the GOP base or the Tea Party. Another example of dispicably ignorant and arrogant conservative behavior that begs the question, Why would an American minority voter have any reason to support the AZ economy or the Republican/Teabagger agenda?

Sociologists and anthropologists are used to seeing this kind of fear and hatred ooze out of the woodwork whenever the group that had been accustomed to being dominant begins to feel threatened. I don't think many expected to see it happen here (thanks to our belief in American exceptionalism and the melting pot), but anyone who understands this countrys' checkered past in terms of way in which minority groups have been treated, and has noted how hatred and fear based on race, religion, and economic status have moved into mainstream media, is particularly surprised.

If history is any guide, members of the majority group who feel threatened (like our Knott-headed friends in South Carolina) will do everything in their power to resist change, but to no avail. They either accomodate themselves to the changing face of this country, or they eventually retreat further back into their gated communities while the rest of the country moves forward. I believe they know this at some level, and that is why their opposition takes the form of life or death struggle.

To anon at 9:29AM, it appears that at least in part, the school principal was inspired to request the changes because Bair's on air rants had led to hundreds of angry phone calls. Plus of course the racial epithets hurled at the artists as mentioned in the quoted article.

No matter what kind of message it sends to give in to this kind of ugliness, most school prinicipals will prefer to avoid controversy rather than stand firm over a matter of principle. And while it sets a bad example for the students, that may be better than subjecting them to an ongoing source of tension and possibly danger.

"I'm not a racist individual, I just play one in real life."

most school prinicipals will prefer to avoid controversy rather than stand firm over a matter of principle.

principals lack principles?

You know, in earlier times countries bought and sold lands to each other with some frequency. Too bad that tradition has ended. It would be fun to do a quick deal to just sell Arizona to Mexico (or trade for some other favorable conditions) and see how these racist morons survive all of a sudden as a tiny minority without power or numbers on their side. There would be a certain lovely justice in that.

Tanstaafi, I agree with your assessment. I just think it's a sad commentary that a (presumably) conservative radio station will recognize and deal with one of its on-air personality's racism but a school board, in service of a community that includes latinos and african americans, does not. I can't believe there's not an equal amount of pressure on the school board from the larger community in defense of the mural.

Wrong! This is exactly what Az needs right now. The more humiliation our state experiences the more likely sane people will insist on a humane and competent state and local government. Note, that the Az Legislature will begin considering a law to deny birth certificates to children of non-US citizens born in Az.

I grew up in Prescott, and have lived in Arizona most of my life (last 36 years of it in Tucson).

Prescott, appearance-wise, is a jewel of a small city. There are many good people living there who are undoubtedly as embarrassed as I am by Blair, the principal of Miller Valley Elem. School, and by all the ugly, ugly people who called in, and those who passed by yelling insults and epithets.

It's heartbreaking to me, watching all this ugliness and stupidity emerge in my state. My one hope is that in the last election, Democrats (and we're far from perfect as well) registered far more new voters than Republicans. We are being energized to act by all this stupidity and ugliness. I truly believe that what we are currently seeing is the last, horrible, dying gasp of a philosophy of extreme tribalism and "I've got mine, so f--- you". But this monster's dying throes will take a long time and will cause a great deal of damage, unfortunately.

Anon, I think it is likely that now that the artists have been asked to alter the mural, that this will produce a backlash of support for the mural and opposition to the hate that has been expressed.

I don't know that will happen and don't know whether it will be enough to overcome a decision that has already been made, but it frequently takes a specific event to focus people's attention on issues like this. Up to now a lot of the ugliness will have just slid by a bit below the threshold needed to register with the non-racists that are (I hope) a majority in the commnunity.

Principals have principles?

Blair [...] argued that "the focus doesn't need to be on the minority all the time."

Hopefully, Blair will feel the same way in another 10 or so years, when people who look like him (pig pink, most likely) are in minority.

I wonder how Blair would define racist? If he thinks he isn't, what behaviour qualifies? People like him really boggle the mind.

Prescott is an overwhelmingly, self-consciously, & proudly white settlement. Blair had a talk-radio show & has been repeatedly elected to public office because he is popular, an authentic voice of the people. This is who they are.

In his self-defense, Blair has repeatedly connected the presence of nonwhite kids in the mural (he mistook a Latino child for a "big ole black guy") to "the guy that's in the White House ... like it or not." He takes a stridently moralistic tone: he was "drawing the line at standing up for what's right or wrong. ... Not everything is OK." We sometimes underestimate the self-righteousness of the worst racists.

There will be more such incidents, & we need to think carefully how to respond to them. There's an obligation to take note & to stand in solidarity w/ people like the actual students at Miller Valley Elementary School who were the models for the mural, & whose images are now being painted over in whiteface. They need to know who's on their side.

But it's a dangerous error politically to imagine that if we can just show undeniably enough that racism exists, racists will finally acknowledge that, yes, they've been acting from racial motives, &, yes, they need to change. Blair's example suggests that if they ever do admit it, it'll only be at the same time the turn against the whole hard-won moral consensus that racism is a bad thing. At some level many people already do privately believe that their racism is really a defense of everything that's good — that public images of nonwhite children are a moral affront that pollute or "deface" communities. If they ever began to insist on this publicly, we could very quickly be up to our ears in frank white racial nationalism.

"Did they simply miss the last 50 years in this country?"
Posted by: LL on June 5, 2010 at 9:29 AM

Of course not.
They are rebelling against everything positive that has been accomplished over that time, plus the 30 years before that.

"Note, that the Az Legislature will begin considering a law to deny birth certificates to children of non-US citizens born in Az."
Posted by: KurtRex1453 on June 5, 2010 at 12:23 PM

They're strongly for the Constitution, except when they're not.

"and don't forget...
calling out racists means..
you are intolerant."
Posted by: GOP 2010 on June 5, 2010 at 9:26 AM

Clearly. "Playing the race card" is the real racism now. Everyone knows that.

“All Men are created equal”! The founders had it right, when attempting to form a perfect union and they also knew that they were not there yet but knew we one day would get there. Lincoln moved us forward as did JFK and LBJ. This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.

It is my contention that this AZ law is not constitutional and will fail when challenged (unless, of course, they keep adding more amendments), pretty funny for this so called perfect law, that many internet blogs claim it was copied “Word for Word” from the Federal law, which I frankly do not believe, if it was then no amendments would have been made, right?, of course.

As for the undocumented workers, as was attributed to Ronald Reagan “It’s the Economy, Stupid”. When the economy is good we say let’s all celebrate “Cinco de Mayo, my brothers” but when the economy is down “it’s all your fault, you damn immigrant”. This too will pass. The real problem is the narcos, arms and people smugglers and that’s what the focus should be on.

Don’t you find it funny that no one ever voted for Brewer for Governor, it’s all about politics and getting elected, do not be fooled. Busy Brewer has passed S.B. 1070, no permit conceal weapons law, the famous Birthers law, banning Ethic studies law, (could she be behind the Mural in Prescott, Arizona) and if history is a lesson she should look up Arizona’s House Bill 2779 from two years ago (which failed when legally challenged) and the craziest one the boycotted Martin Luther King Day, not wanting another holiday, how crazy is that. I believe there is an undercurrent to their enactment of new laws, they real love following a distinct pattern. Poor Brewer, last week, she first she said her Dad had died in Germany fighting the Nazi in World War II (war ended 1945) and we find out her father was never in Germany and died in California in 1955 (watch the spin doctors go into overdrive) and then she went to Washington and came back empty as always, poor dear.