o the Editors:

I would like to respond to Michael Marlow’s recent article “Racist Hovey Murals Not Worth Costs of Preservation” (January 23, 2000). Mr. Marlow writes about Humphrey’s song, that the words show “disrespect for Orozco”, as if this is, in itself, a bad thing. Perhaps Orozco was a jerk. Perhaps he was commissioned to paint his murals, but didn’t believe in anything he painted. Perhaps any number of things that would lead someone to disrespect him. Art (and by “art” I include songs) as a disrespectful response to something is not necessarily wrong. If someone wrote a disrespectful song in response to some racist’s artwork, Marlow would not be writing an article about that.

Marlow goes on to say that the words “reveal that Humphries’ so-called ‘art’ is little more than an immature and malicious joke in response to Orozco’s serious work.” How the words necessarily reveal this seems to elude me. Yes, it could be that Humphrey merely wanted to create a huge, “immature and malicious joke.” Or it could be that he had a point, and attempted to show it through his art.

Unfortunately, I don’t know very much about Humphrey, nor too much about Orozco, except for the work I have seen of his while passing through Baker Library. Even more unfortunate, however, is that this article does nothing to enlighten me. I still know nothing more about the Humphrey’s art than I did before, although I now know, for all the good it does me, that Marlow thinks it is racist.

I am certainly not trying to imply that the art is not racist, nor that Humphrey is a good man. Quite simply, I don’t know. In fact, the only point I am making is that Marlow has written a completely worthless article, which does nothing but state someone’s opinion on a subject which he readily admits “there is a good chance that [we] have not even heard of.” Does Marlow attempt to explain how the art itself is racist? No. It seems instead that we are to somehow infer that it racist from the two panels printed, or perhaps just take his word for it. He draws our attention to a song which the art was based on, yet provides no background for it; shows pictures from the Hovey Murals, yet does not talk about them in any specific detail; and makes claims that the people like me who “do not comprehend why these murals are racist or even know that they exist” somehow lack a “basic understanding of who we are and how we should treat each other.”

It sounds to me as if Marlow has either done pitifully little research himself into why people consider the murals are racist, or simply enjoyed writing about the general public’s ignorance more than enlightening the general public.

If anyone can refer me to a piece of writing which describes the Hovey Murals, explains their history, and perhaps even explains who Humphrey was, but at the very least gives a decent explanation of why these murals are necessarily racist, then I would be very grateful.

Colin Brash ‘02