Photo courtesy of PS 295
Screen-Shot-2021-08-05-at-10.50.27-AM
New York, NY (77WABC)- A group of fifth-graders at Park Slope’s P.S. 295 spent months designing a mural to celebrate diversity; which featured images of multi-racial hands clasped together and girls of color wearing crowns displaying messages like “Black Trans Lives Matter” and a quote from Audre Lorde (feminist author) warning “Your Silence Will Not Protect You.” If this offends you, you’re not alone.
District Superintendent Anita Skop claimed the artwork was divisive and unwelcoming. Frank Giordano, the principal of New Voices Middle School, which shares a building with P.S. 295, claimed he felt “attacked” by the Lorde quote, according to an unnamed staff member. According to the NY Daily News, the school was o asked to replace a “Black Trans Lives Matters” image with something more “generalized” such as “hate has no home here.”
The students who designed the mural are heartbroken as it was taken down without notice, due to the negative reactions.
What do you think? Are you offended by this mural?
Is the mural offensive?
