Is it too soon to start interviewing street artists? Asking taggers for samples of their best work and, in keeping with the spirit of the project, RFPs (bureaucrat-speak for request for proposals)?
The project that I’m proposing, as a public service hence no money will exchange hands but I’d be glad to pay them in exposure bucks, will champion truth and function as a service to the world.
The right candidate will have an internationally recognized monument and thousands upon thousands of miles of open space as his canvas.
It’s a big project. Literally.
Beneath, in addition to or in place of the inscription at the base of the Statue of Liberty, where those famous words are printed: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” etc., the artiste will add another famous line: “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”
The line from Dante’s “Divine Comedy” could also be inscribed into the marble floors of the Capitol, etched into the mountains and valleys that are the borders between the United States, Canada and Mexico, and perhaps even atop the entryways to international airports and border crossing stations.
Given the current state of affairs in American politics, the grim admonishment seems not only fitting but generous in that it alerts visitors as to what they are getting into.
We are a country whose leadership in the U.S. Senate has promised not to hold hearings on any nomination to the Supreme Court put forth by the current president of the United States.
We are a country who is perilously close to nominating for president a billionaire whose rhetoric attracts the support of racists and Islamaphobes and whose speeches divide people not only within his own party but within the country.
We are a country that continues to watch the gap between the working class and the poor narrow while the divide between the haves and the have-nots grows like a seismic fissure.
We are a country that dismisses the cries and protests of abuse of black people by police and authorities as whining, and a country that allows corrupt officers to besmirch and sully the good work and reputation of their colleagues.
We are a country that spends tens of a millions on prisons and incarceration and a fraction of that on rehabilitation and education.
We are a country that fails to meet its full potential in providing the basic necessities of life not just to ordinary citizens but to veterans.
We are a country that cannot serve as a beacon of hope for everyone because the agendas of a few self-interested parties won’t allow them to put aside their differences to work together.
“Abandon hope, all ye who enter here” may be too heavy but “Don’t worry, be happy” sure hasn’t been working out lately.
