The Portland City Council should resist the proposal from a group of private citizens to paint a Black Lives Matter mural on the street in front of City Hall in Portland.
John Balentine, a former managing editor for the Lakes Region Weekly, lives in Windham.
The city of Portland, which is as peace-loving, live-and-let-live a place as any on Earth, doesn’t need the garish and obnoxious, blindingly bright yellow, block-lettered kind of “murals” BLM groups have painted on streets in other cities around the country.
The council is set to debate the proposal at its July 13 meeting, but undoubtedly will approve the mural. Can you imagine the outrage that would ensue if it didn’t?
My question is this: Why do supporters think Portland needs a BLM mural?
In New York City and Washington, D.C., the murals were meant to get the attention of President Trump, whom BLM folks say is a racist. BLM must think Portland is filled with racists if they are proposing such a mural here.
The fact that protesters believe a mural is needed, enough to spend $6,000 for it, leads me to think Portland is not the shining example of racial harmony I thought it was. Either that or protesters are painting all of Portland with a broad brush.
True or not – and I guess we have to believe BLM since they are the nation’s new moral compass – that’s the message such a mural sends.
By approving the mural, councilors would be seconding proponents’ assertion that Portland is indeed racist and needs a constant physical reminder that Black lives matter, too. Is that the message the councilors want to send residents and visitors?
Of course, no one will dare criticize the mural proposal. This will be a unanimous yes vote. And no one would ever say the mural is a bad idea that may backfire on the city. If you criticize the spirit of the age, you may not make it through the current age – especially if you’re a politician seeking reelection in a liberal city like Portland.
Instead of wasting time and money on paint that will eventually chip off under the plow blades of public works crews (or else need constant repainting because it would be deemed racist to ever let it fade), why don’t BLM activists use their money, talents and energy to actually improve Black lives in America?
Here’s one idea that’s better than street graffiti: Help the Black business owners whose businesses were destroyed during the recent nationwide BLM riots.
Here’s another: Help stop the abortion of Black babies. Protest at the abortion clinics and tell them that Black babies’ lives matter, too.
Here’s one that would require some real guts: Get an army of BLM activists together and take back the streets of crazy liberal cities like Chicago, where dozens of Black lives are snuffed each weekend. Maybe BLM could one-up the cops and convince their fellow Blacks to stop killing each other.
Of course, none of these things will happen because they’re too hard. Painting an artsy mural in an artsy town like Portland is easy.
I pity the City Council because they have no choice but to allow this mural on Portland’s main thoroughfare. No one wants to be called a racist, after all. Only a strong person could withstand that kind of personal attack and those are few and far between in today’s politics.
So, seeing this mural will likely happen, please make it reflect beautiful Portland. Use some blue for Casco Bay or some green for the trees in Payson Park. Think outside the boxy yellow letters that have already been done before.
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