We elect leaders to guide our community – city or county – every two years.
Their job is not an easy one and they are asked to make many tough decisions; decisions that can’t please everybody, decisions that affect our community for decades and decisions that cost them elections.
With the stakes so high, we hope our Board of Mayor and Commissioners always choose judiciously, intelligently and with high standards of excellence.
That is part of the reason the content of the murals downtown has become such an issue in our community.
As your Clarksdale Press Register has said before, we are fortunate to have brightly painted murals on walls in this community. But we also agree some of the murals downtown have a definite political message and dark undertones that concern some.
Therefore we think the city’s effort to create some kind of policy or committee to guide what is best for Clarksdale is the correct move.
We would like to remind those who believe we should not infringe on the right of an artist to express themselves that these are murals are on public streets and seen by children and also those who live here and who might not appreciate that expression. Legally, it’s called acceptable community standards.
We would also like to remind those offended by this artwork that if boundaries are not established, their work will only get more audacious, more risqué, more insulting.
What if rebel flags, swastikas or more daring nudity show up on our walls?
We think the immaturity, political views and artwork signed “lik mi” has gone far enough.
We ask our city father to stop the kids from jumping-on-the-bed, thumbing their nose at Clarksdale and being rude to people who have treated them like the valued guests they are. We ask city fathers to vote for boundaries.
There are many positive things about Clarksdale – the land, the music, the people. We ask our visiting artists to please learn about us and paint what best reflects us on public walls.
These artists have been invited into our town and, as with any guest, they need to understand and respect our culture, our values and our views – even if they are different from their own.
