Florida: Courthouse Mural's Klan Image Draws Fire Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Luis A Martin Miami Herald - December 7, 2001 Courthouse mural's Klan image draws fire BY PETER WALLSTEN The mural was supposed to hang prominently and proudly in the lobby outside a shiny new courtroom, showing visitors 6,000 years of North Florida history in glorious, full color.Instead, a brewing battle over one small panel of that mural -- depicting three hooded Ku Klux Klan riders -- might force officials in tiny Baker County to put the painting in a vault. "It's the talk of the county right now," said Sheriff Joey B. Dobson, a graduate of Baker County High School who was elected in 1996. The controversy started when artist and historian Gene Barber was $paid 8,000 by a group of private donors, interested in honoring the county's history, to paint the mural. The work was to hang inside a new $4 million expansion of the courthouse in Macclenny, the county seat. But when word got out that one of the panels shows an image of the three KKK horsemen, one area judge raised an objection. Judge Stan Morris, chief of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, which includes much of Northeast Florida, told county commissioners that he does not want the mural to be hung. According to Dobson, Morris told officials that if the commission proceeded with the plan, he would order the sheriff to take down the painting. The conflict could wind up in a federal court, or even the Florida Supreme Court.Morris, a Gainesville-based judge best known for presiding over the murder trial of serial killer Danny Rolling, declined to comment. But Dobson said, "I've got to do what the judge tells me to do. Then I guess a higher court would have to decide whether it's offensive or censorship' The mural is beginning to draw attention from civil rights activists. Baker County, tucked between Jacksonville and Lake City, does not have its own chapter of the NAACP. But the leader of the group's chapter in neighboring Columbia County said Thursday he has heard reports from some who have seen the mural."There's no need to display it in a way that those who are offended, who know the history of murders and lynchings by the KKK, are forced to view it," said Glenel Bowden, president of the Columbia chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Bowden said that displaying the mural in a museum, rather than a widely used public building, would be more appropriate."We have to go to the courthouse. We have to pay our taxes," he said.Barber, the artist, said Thursday he did not want to talk about the controversy anymore."The more it gets stirred up, the sillier this whole thing gets," he said. "Please respect my privacy' In a note he wrote to accompany the mural, and cited in The Baker County Press, it was clear, however, that Barber expected some turbulence."I did not follow the current and unfortunate fad of revising history for the sake of making it fit the wishes of any special interest segments of society," he wrote. "I avoided as carefully as possible interpreting the past using our contemporary standards. The history of the county is here . . . warts and roses and all."The image of the Klansmen is a tiny part of the 8-by-12-foot mural, which spans multiple panels illustrating Civil War battles, American Indians, magnolia blossoms and wildlife. Black and white people are shown across the mural. There is also a Confederate flag and a U.S. flag. The county was home to the most significant Civil War land battle in Florida, at Olustee, where a battalion of Union troops -- including a division of black soldiers -- marching from Jacksonville to Tallahassee was defeated. During Prohibition, the county was a hub for moonshiners. It has led the state in the number of marijuana plants seized, according to the Almanac of Florida Politics. Today, locals say, it is a growing bedroom community for nearby Jacksonville and has grown in its sophistication. The debate over the mural is not about whether the KKK should be memorialized, but how to remember a blotch on the county's history, some say." I know the temptation is going to be to latch onto this thing as a bunch of toothless rednecks," said Jim McGauley, publisher of The Baker County Press, which donated some of the money for the mural and has editorialized in favor of displaying it. "But that couldn't be further from the truth. This is a very sophisticated community, and a very sophisticated debate."The Baker County Commission was scheduled to take up the mural controversy at its meeting this week, but put off the debate for the sake of further reflection. This week, the mural was on display outside commission chambers. But, said County Judge Joseph Williams, it is likely to go into a vault for safekeeping."It's a complex issue for people," Williams said. "We need to be thoughtful about it. The county is going to find a resolution that will make everyone happy." ************************************************************ NOTE: ALL ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSIONS PURSUANT TO THE USA/PATRIOT ACT ARE NOW READ BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. REMEMBER THE MIRANDA WARNINGS WHEN MAKING ANY AND ALL ELECTRONIC MAIL TRANSMISSION AS NONE, WE REPEAT NONE, ARE PRIVATE IN THE WAKE OF THE PASSAGE OF THE USA/PATRIOT ANTI-FREE SPEECH/ANTI-CIVIL LIBERTIES ACT. NOTICE: This electronic mail (e-mail) message and any attachment to this e-mail message contains confidential information that may be legally privileged. This message is intended solely for the purview and dissemination of the recipient(s) and the recipient(s) directly affiliated organization(s). If you are not the intended recipient, you must not review, retransmit, convert to hard copy, copy, print, use or disseminate this e-mail or any attachments to it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify us immediately by return e-mail or by telephone at 727-826-6960 and delete this message. Please note that if this e-mail message contains a forwarded message or is a reply to a prior message, some or all of the contents of this message or any attachments may not have been produced by the American Indian Movement of Florida, Inc., its membership, affiliates, or support groups. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-12.09.01-07:21:13-15277