Prescott Elementary School Principal Jeff Lane Tells Artists to Lighten Faces of Black & Latino Children in Public Mural

Prescott elementary school principal Jeff Lane tells artists to lighten faces of children on public mural after motorists hurl racial epithets.

I am stunned that a principal at any school in the United States could capitulate to the wishes of racists in this country. Once again, the state of Arizona is in the news. According to the Arizona Republic, a group of artists were asked to lighten the faces of children depicted in the "Go on Green" public mural at Miller Valley Elementary School in Prescott. R. E. Wall, the group's project leader said he was ordered to lighten the skin tone after complaints about the children's ethnicity, the Republic said. The principal, Jeff Lane, claims the request was only to fix the shading and had nothing to do with political pressure. Right. The mural was meant to advertise a campaign for environmentally friendly transportation and features portraits of four children, with a Hispanic boy as the dominant figure, the Arizona Republic said.

R.E. Wall, director of Prescott's Downtown Mural Project, said he and other artists were subjected to slurs from motorists as they worked on the painting at one of the town's most prominent intersections.

"We consistently, for two months, had people shouting racial slander from their cars," Wall said. "We had children painting with us, and here come these yells of (epithet for Blacks) and (epithet for Hispanics)."

Wall said school Principal Jeff Lane pressed him to make the children's faces appear happier and brighter. "It is being lightened because of the controversy," Wall said, adding that "they want it to look like the children are coming into light." Source: Arizona Republic

How can we ever move to a post-racial America when racism still rears its ugly head in pockets across the United States? The sad truth is that Principal Jeff Lane buckled under the weight of doing what is right.

Read more: Altered mural fuels racial debate in Prescott | Arizona Republic