In the spring of 2010, Arizona artists known as the Mural Mice enlisted the student body of Miller Valley Elementary School in the creation of a mural entitled “Go On Green.” The project, funded by the federal Safe Routes to School program and Prescott Alternative Transportation, was enhanced by the schools emphasis on Ecology. It illustrated alternative ways of getting to school without bus or car. To the creators of the mural, all 500 of them, its message was clear, but to City Councilman Steve Blair the project was about the politics of immigration border issues and hidden liberal agendas. Putting his assumptions in front of him, he laid pressure on the school to lighten the face of a Mexican American child in the mural. The result was a spectacular international conversation on racism in America.
An exciting new documentary is currently in the works from Culture Collective entitled “Up Against the Wall”. They are raising funds to produce the film by winter 2012. The film “gives voice to the complexities around the event” and “ uses the mural controversy as a springboard for a deeper conversation about art, its role in society, politics role in art, and medias role in shaping our culture in the way it frames the discussion.”
Culture Collective is a non-profit that works with youth in an educational capacity using art and media to give voice to issues that are important in our communities. Watch the trailer and donate if you would like to see this story told.
