By Stacy M. BrownBlack Press USA Senior Nationwide Correspondent
A billboard in Montgomery, Ala., has ignited a storm of backlash after displaying the phrases “It’s Time to Get the Clowns Out!” alongside photographs of individuals in racist blackface, all framed within the branding of Donald Trump’s “Make America Nice Once more” slogan.
The show, funded via the Montgomery Museum of Wonderful Arts and created by the artist-led group For Freedoms, was meant to spark dialogue forward of an exhibit marking the sixtieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday. As a substitute, it set off anger and ache in a metropolis the place civil rights historical past is just not a distant reminiscence however a lived expertise. Critics say the pairing of MAGA messaging with blackface is greater than provocative — it’s racist and harmful.
“Timing and context imply all the pieces,” wrote one Montgomery resident in response.
Others argued that no quantity of creative intent might justify splashing racist caricatures on a public billboard in a majority-Black metropolis.
Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed ordered the billboard eliminated nearly instantly after it went up, calling it a politicized distortion of a sacred historical past.
“We have to be extraordinarily conscious of how we use such photographs of our shared historical past, particularly once they danger being perceived as politically charged,” Reed acknowledged. “Our historical past deserves to be handled with the utmost respect and care, making certain it unifies somewhat than divides us as a neighborhood.”
The choice to take down the billboard uncovered a deeper battle between the town and the museum’s management. In keeping with members of the museum’s board, the billboard had been erected with out their approval, including to what they describe as a two-year battle with Metropolis Corridor over management of the museum’s operations.
The controversy has drawn sharp responses from civil rights and humanities advocates. The Southern Poverty Legislation Middle praised the mayor’s determination, saying, “We will by no means afford to empower or embolden unhealthy actors to trigger hurt and trample the rights and freedoms of marginalized teams.”
However the Nationwide Coalition Towards Censorship condemned the transfer as authorities overreach, writing in a letter to Reed, “Although it’s possible you’ll not agree with the politics or the imaginative and prescient of the artists behind the billboard, your place…doesn’t provide the proper to implement your private political perspective on the museum’s programming.”
For a lot of in Montgomery, the billboard has reopened wounds tied to the continuing use of MAGA rhetoric. The slogan, tied to Donald Trump’s presidency, has lengthy raised questions: Which America is being referred to as “nice,” and when precisely was it nice?
“This can be a nation constructed on slavery, and the legacy of slavery,” one resident acknowledged. “What has been nice are the individuals who fought for freedom. That’s what makes America nice.”
The billboard could also be gone, however the questions it raised — about race, historical past, and who will get to resolve how America’s previous is remembered — stay on full show.
