CNN 2010-06-18

Why would a mural showing kids smiling and having fun make some people so angry? Would you believe it has to do with the color of their skin. This is a mural at Miller¹ Valley Elementary School in Prescott, Arizona. School officials told the artist to lighten the skin tones of two of their minority students, the children on it but they later backed off.

This comes while race relations are under a microscope in Arizona, which begins enforcing its new immigration law next month. Pamela Smith and R.E. Wall are the artists who painted the mural. They join us now from Phoenix², Arizona, live. Thanks for joining us. I love your hats. Before we get to this controversy³, what are the hats for?

Well, the hats are what we consider uniform for the mural mice in Prescott. The sign of, it's a symbol of pride and service to our community.

OK. OK. So, R.E. just before I thought people would wonder at home, why you're wearing those. Let's get to this controversy now. I want to be specific about this, about who asked you to lighten the skin tones of the children on this mural? Who did it, Pam?

Well, there was a meeting between some of the teachers because they had been under pressure from people in the community, and that's where the first command came from to lighten the skin tone.

So, OK, the first command came from to lighten the skin tone from them. But what about who are these models? Where did you pick the models from for the mural?

The models were actually children from the school. They had contests to see who would win and who would be chosen to pose for us.

R.E., when you found out about it, what was your response? I mean you, they later backed off but did you say I'm not gonna do it, were you in the process of doing it, did you ever consider it?

No, I never seriously considered it. As an artist, myself and Pamela, I had the picture fully⁴ under control. We were trying to depict⁵ the child exactly as he was in the photograph, and to have somebody tell you to lighten up the skin tone, it really didn't go over very well with either me or Pam. And so it was my decision to step away from it for a few days and reconsider it.

What was the explanation behind them, wanting to lighten the skin?

There are several explanations around it, mostly it was couched in the aesthetic⁶ value of the picture, whether or not it could be a better picture by having them come into the light. But we knew by the experience we were having with the diversity issue and the racism⁷ that was coming from the city council members, radio show and the audience out in the intersection⁸, that it was the center, and source of it was concerned about the right-looking kids on that wall.

So do you think it was based, you think it was racism, R.E.?

Oh, yeah, I do. I do. Not…

Pam?

I absolutely do. There were several times when I was painting outside with the little ones, when motorists would drive by and yell racial slurs⁹ out the windows and it really upset the children. What's going on there?

It's hard to explain, you know. It didn't make a lot of sense to us. For neither one of us are racists people, and you know, it's really hard to explain. Those children are real children. Those are real kids that go to that school, not contrived¹⁰ from somewhere else. They have feelings. They have been affected¹¹ by this and it's really a shame that they should have played that card unfortunately.

So then R.E., why did they eventually back off?

They initially¹² backed off because I think that they underestimated the support we had in our community. And had we not had that support at all, I'm pretty sure that they would have had us change it.

1 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

2 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

3 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 depict   

vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述

参考例句：

• I don't care to see plays or films that depict murders or violence.我不喜欢看描写谋杀或暴力的戏剧或电影。
• Children's books often depict farmyard animals as gentle,lovable creatures.儿童图书常常把农场的动物描写得温和而可爱。

6 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

7 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

8 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

9 slurs   

含糊的发音( slur的名词复数 )； 玷污； 连奏线； 连唱线

参考例句：

• One should keep one's reputation free from all slurs. 人应该保持名誉不受责备。
• Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian. 种族主义辱骂，种族笑话，都是跟亚裔有关的。

10 contrived   

adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的

参考例句：

• There was nothing contrived or calculated about what he said.他说的话里没有任何蓄意捏造的成分。
• The plot seems contrived.情节看起来不真实。

11 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

12 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。