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Joined: May 02, 2005 Posts: 136 Location: Southern California
Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 4:41 pm Post subject: Racist, anti-American Artwork (and YOU paid for it)
Posting the billboard placing LA in Mexico was the act of a commercial enterprise, the publicity hounds at KRCA-TV.
The following statements are carved in stone, for generations to come, and have been greeting travelers at the Baldwin Park metro rail station for over a dozen years now.
The big difference: this artwork was ordered by the Baldwin Park city council, with the cooperation of the mayor, and more than likely financed by taxpayer funds. Isn't that ironic?
How about that?
Image #1:
Image #2:
Image #3:
Last edited by lobo on Sat May 07, 2005 7:27 pm; edited 7 times in total
Metrolink Baldwin Park Station
Danza Indigenas, 1993
Judith F. Baca, artist
Siegel Diamond Architecture
Image 1 | Image 2 (see link above for clickable links for images)
Entitled Danza Indegenas (Indigenous Dance) this artist/architect team design traces the historical importance of the California Mission period to contemporary Baldwin Park. Reflected in the platform paving are the floor plans of the four missions that are closest to the station site; superimposed on the floor plans are the steps of indigenous dances.
Voices from the past and present appear in five languages: Spanish, English, Gabrielino, Chumash and Luiseno. Included are the words "memory and willpower� which served indigenous peoples through the difficult times of disease and forced labor. "When the Indians died, the villages ended" is a quote from one of the last fluent native speaking Gabrielinos and it appears near the final dance step.
Also inlaid into the platform are the numbers of cattle and grape vines raised at the missions juxtaposed with the numbers of baptisms and deaths of indigenous people at the missions. At one end of the platform located on the San Gabriel Mission floorplan near what would have been the church altar is a low rock prayer mound. This mound stands in tribute of Toypurina who, at age 23, lead a revolt against the San Gabriel Mission on October 25, 1785.
There are two large pots on the platform—one houses an oak the other a cactus—each representing the two cultures, Gabrielino and Mexican, which came together to form the mestizo culture which is now Baldwin Park's dominant population. The California missions played an important role in the blending of these two cultures.
Appearing as the only remaining standing structure is a large fabricated arch (installed atop the San Gabriel Mission floor plan). The indigenous name for the area, “Sunigna" appears on one side of the arch along with Gabrielino pictograms; today’s name for the area, “Baldwin Park,� appears on the opposite side along with statements from contemporary inhabitants on their perceptions of their city and its future.
"I wanted to put memory into a piece of the land once owned by the American Indian cultures—memory and willpower are what any culture, the ones living then and those living now, has to have to preserve itself."
JUDITH F. BACA is best known for her large scale murals. Her art involves extensive community organizing and participation. It is through the collective experience that she receives inspiration for her imagery. Baca teaches at University of California, Los Angeles and is the Director of the Social and Public Art Resource Center.
SIEGEL DIAMOND ARCHITECTURE has completed projects including the Air Traffic Control Tower for LA International Airport and the Hollywood/Highland Metro Rail Station. Kate Diamond is a past president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Institute for Architecture and served as lead designer on this project.
This project was jointly commissioned and funded by the MTA and the City of Baldwin Park and is owned and maintained by the City of Baldwin Park.
Thanks for posting the photos. I really feel that Americans need to wake up regarding the attitude of some of the immigrants and their native-born family members today towards the U.S., which is that they consider the entire southwest to be a part of Mexico and have no respect for the sovereignty of the United States.
As more and more Mexican-born people come to live in the United States, become citizens and get into high political offices, there really won't be anything to stop them FROM making the southwest U.S. part of Mexico.
I have researched this "artwork" and this is what I found regarding the artist.
World of Art: Works In Progress "Judy Baca" (R)
In this program we watch as muralist Judy Baca creates "La Memoria de Nuestra Tierra" (1996) -- a mural for the Topping Student Center on the campus of the University of Southern California. Baca discusses how she uses her public art to confront the social and political problems facing Chicano culture in California. She also talks about the influence of her grandmother on her as an artist, working with gang members and creating her best know work - "The Great Wall of the City of Los Angeles" (1976-1983). The political point-of-view represented in much of her art has made Baca one of the most controversial artists in the Hispanic culture -we see how she deals with a potentially sensitive situation within the campus mural. We also see how Baca is working with students from USC to create a series of public art works on the Fort Ord military base which is currently being converted to a new campus of the California State University. Among the works featured in the program are: "Pancho - Trinity" (1993); "La Offrenda to the Domestic Worker" (1993); "Danzas Indigenas (Baldwin Park Metrolink Station)" (1993); "Hitting the Wall" (1984); "Mi Abuelita" (1970); "Farmworkers of Guadalupe" (1990); "Founders of Guadalupe" (1990); "Uprising of the Mujeres" (1979). y R on 4/14 7:30am; 4/17 7:30am
http://www.lakelandptv.org/Pages/Digital%20Channels/April.LYOU/D4_14Apr05.htm
=====================================
Judy Baca
Artist
Born: 1946
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
Artist Judy Baca is known for her brilliantly colored urban murals, especially Great Wall of Los Angeles, a dynamic depiction of California ethnic history that stretches half a mile long. For this work and others she enlisted the help of many scholars, kids, artists, and other helpers, combining art and community organizing. Baca has directed several Los Angeles-based murals programs, which have produced hundreds of murals in that city.
A World of Art
Biographical Sketch: Judy Baca
As a visual artist, Judy Baca is best known for her large-scale murals, which involve extensive community organization and participation and address multicultural audiences. In the internationally known Great Wall of Los Angeles in the Tujunga Wash Flood Control Channel, Baca designed a work which incorporated 40 ethnic scholars, over 400 multicultural neighborhood youth, 40 assisting artists, and over 100 support staff to paint a half-mile long pictorial representation of the ethnic history of California. Along with many other mural projects, Baca has employed her community organizing techniques to make the World Wall: A Vision of the Future without Fear, seven dual-sided 10 x 30 foot portable mural panels on canvas. The 210-foot mural in seven parts addresses contemporary issues of global importance: war, peace, cooperation, interdependence, and spiritual growth. As the World Wall tours the world, additional panels by artist from seven countries will be added to complete this visual tribute to the "Global Village."
As an arts activist, Baca founded the first City of Los Angeles mural program in 1974, which produced over 250 murals and hired over 2,000 participants in its ten years of operation. In 1976, she founded the Social and Public Arts Resource Center (SPARC) in Venice, California, where she still serves as Artistic Director. In 1988, at the request of then Mayor Tom Bradley, she developed another Los Angeles Mural program based on the model of the Great Wall. Entitled Great Walls Unlimited: Neighborhood Pride, it operated under contract with the City's Cultural Affairs Department and has produced 73 murals in almost every ethnic community in Los Angeles.
She is a founding faculty member of the new California state University, Monterey Bay, and serves as a senior faculty member at UCLA's Cesar Chavez Institute. She lives and works in Venice, California.
http://www.learner.org/catalog/extras/wabios/baca.html
Annenburg CPB (public broadcasting)
===========================
Judith F. Baca
Artist, educator, activist
Born: Los Angeles, California
One of America’s leading muralists, Judith Baca believes that art is a tool for social change and self-transformation, capable of fostering civic dialogue in the most uncivil places.
“Break the mold! Have the biggest vision you can! If you can’t dream it, it cannot occur.�
Raised in a strong, all-female household, Baca was especially influenced by the values of her grandmother, a Mexican herbal healer. In 1974, Baca founded the City of Los Angeles’ first mural program, and in 1976 she co-founded the Social and Public Art Resource Center, which promotes community-based, participatory public arts projects. Since 1980 she has been a professor at the University of California, first at Irvine and since 1996 at UCLA.
“I want to use public space to create a public voice for, and a public consciousness about people who are, in fact, the majority of the population but who are not represented in any visual way."
Baca’s The Great Wall of Los Angeles engaged hundreds of culturally and economically diverse 14-21 year olds, including gang members, as well as scholars, oral historians, artists, and community members. Baca calls the depiction of America and California’s ethnic history “the largest monument to interracial harmony in America.�
“We Latinos must see ourselves as connected to the generations that preceded us and fought for us, and to those who are behind us, struggling in poverty, fear, and lack of opportunity. We must see ourselves as part of the whole.�
A member of SaveOurState.org has confirmed these inscriptions first hand. They are running with the photos on their site. Here is the report.
"William,
Per your reqest from SOS's website regarding the authenticity of the monument
in Baldwin Park. I performed the recon yesterday and yes, the quotes, the
monument, and the whole 9 yards does exist. The quotes are etched into the
monument. This is not a "rotten egg" and the photos are real. The Mayor of
Baldwin Park, Mr. Vargas, endorsed this momument by providing the plague which is
hanging on the monument. The momument is very ghastily to look at, especially
if you are a full-blooded American. Hope this alleviates your concerns about
the photo "enchancements". Please inform your group about this monument.
They deserve to hear about this.
Joined: May 02, 2005 Posts: 136 Location: Southern California
Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 1:09 pm Post subject:
No problem, and no need to feel sorry about verifying.
This is a sensitive issue, and I would like to THANK YOU, and everyone else at the forum for looking into it.
THANKS FOR THE DUE DILIGENCE!
Now, let me explain the looks of the image.
The original image was taken with a high end Canon digital camera.
The size of the virgin original is 3072 x 2048 pixels, taking up 2,354,864 bytes of storage.
So that I wouldn't abuse your site, and your readers' patience, I have resized the image to 576 x 384 pixels, and, to make the text easier to read, I have increased the contrast by 8% and sharpness by 3%.
When that was done, I have saved it with a web-optimized JPG compressor, which gave me a total size of 17,997 bytes. That is a LOT easier to store, and serve up to readers, but, I guess, made the looks of the image suspicious.
Thanks again, to those running this site, and those taking the time to read these posts.
Joined: Mar 14, 2005 Posts: 805 Location: the Christian Holy Town of Gretna, NE
Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 1:32 pm Post subject:
lobo wrote:
No problem, and no need to feel sorry about verifying.
This is a sensitive issue, and I would like to THANK YOU, and everyone else at the forum for looking into it.
THANKS FOR THE DUE DILIGENCE!
Now, let me explain the looks of the image.
The original image was taken with a high end Canon digital camera.
The size of the virgin original is 3072 x 2048 pixels, taking up 2,354,864 bytes of storage.
So that I wouldn't abuse your site, and your readers' patience, I have resized the image to 576 x 384 pixels, and, to make the text easier to read, I have increased the contrast by 8% and sharpness by 3%.
When that was done, I have saved it with a web-optimized JPG compressor, which gave me a total size of 17,997 bytes. That is a LOT easier to store, and serve up to readers, but, I guess, made the looks of the image suspicious.
Thanks again, to those running this site, and those taking the time to read these posts.
Lobo, tou might edit your original post, and provide links to the "real" images (simply host them on some free image site). Since you reduced, and "enhanced" the pics, it would be nice to have the originals for reference. If you link, simply put the URL there. Don't direct link the image to the post, because people with modems would scream at you after they had to wait 10 minutes to see the page.
Again, THANKS for providing this awful information. Now, we need to spread this to the winds of the net, and make darn sure the people wake and and SEE what the aztlan foolz really want.
This seems pretty anti-American to me but what else is new for LA-LA-land. It kinda reminds me of the Confederate Battle Flag flown as the North Carolina State Flag a few years ago. Clearly, it was inappropriate because it offended a large segment of NC's population as well as the whole nation. Consequently it came down under the will of the people. They didn't like it but it was offensive. It wasn't offensive to me because I'm a died-in-the-wool southerner with Civil War roots, but to many it was. It served no purpose but to piss everyone off.
This artwork in LA gets under my skin and I've never been to the LA metro station. I'm sure patriots using that station every day are more offended than I am. Consequently, the city council, Vargas, et al., should meet and determine the will of the people and then carry it out. Failure to do so is precisely what starts wars. It's unnecessary to kill all those Mexican wannabees. We just want the legal ones to behave like US citizens and the illegal aliens to leave. As a postscript, we should make it absolutely clear that it won't be our blood that's spilled if they don't leave. _________________ '58 Airedale
Posted: Tue May 10, 2005 11:03 am Post subject: BATTLE FOR LOS ANGELES: Taxpayer Monument Contains Seperatis
BATTLE FOR LOS ANGELES: Taxpayer Monument Contains Seperatist Language
5/10/2005
by Joe Turner & William Gheen
Americans for Legal Immigration & SaveOurState.org
Topics: MECHA, Reconquista, Baldwin Park, Monument, Offensive Messages, laws, Border, campaigns, illegal immigration
As Billboard Gate winds down and the Liberman Broadcast group completes the removal of offensive and divisive language from 75 billboards, a new scandal is emerging over a public works monument in Baldwin Park, CA.
The stone monument, created by artist Judith Baca, contains the inscriptions "This land was Mexican once, was Indian always, and is and will be again" and "It was better before THEY came". These inscriptions are insulting to Americans because they reflect the opinions of the Aztlan Reconquista seperatist movement within the rapidly expanding illegal alien community in America.
See SaveOurState.org's release and pictures below
SaveOurState.org has released the following...
Seditious monument language on public property
(Baldwin Park, CA) -
SaveOurState.org demands that the
city of Baldwin Park immediately
remove seditious anti-American
language (pictures below) from the
“Danzas Indigenas� monument
located at the Baldwin Park
Commuter Rail Station. Taxpayer
funded and situated on public land,
the monument promotes the radical
and militant belief in the
“reconquista of Aztlan.� One
passage on the monument laments
the presence of whites in America
by stating, “It was better before
they came.� The most offensive
passage is a quote from Gloria
Anzaldua, which reads:
“This land was Mexican once,
was Indian always
and is,
And will be again.�
Californians are tired of radical
revisionist history and militant
separatist rhetoric calling for the
return of the Southwestern United
States to Mexico as proclaimed by
radical organizations like
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de
Aztlan (MEChA). SaveOurState.org
proudly stands in opposition to this
propaganda.
Californians are tired of watching
their communities turn into Third
World cesspools as a result of a
massive invasion of illegal aliens.
Joseph Turner, Executive Director of
SaveOurState.org responds:
“This divisive monument is funded
by our tax dollars and we will not
tolerate its anti-American
message. This is not art. This is
not freedom of expression. This is
government-sanctioned sedition.
This is our land. This is our fight.�
We call upon the city of Baldwin
Park to voluntarily remove these
offensive passages by Friday, July
1st, in advance of the American
Independence weekend. This will
clearly demonstrate their
commitment to America and their
disapproval of treasonous
sentiments. If this situation is not
remedied, SaveOurState.org will
take additional steps to ensure that
the passages are removed.
UP ON THE ALIPAC HOMEPAGE WITH A LINK INTO THIS DISCUSSION
Again and again, the seperatists running this nation (and running it into the ground) promote an ambiguous sense of racism; from the illegals to the cityizens, and vice versa, while nothing in particular needs to be said.
as Americans, it's our responsibility to destroy the myth of racism; fact is, alot of stereotypes exist b/c they have been known to be, GENERALLY SPEAKING, true. And you know what? People will admit that their particular culture is a tad heavy on (sterotype A) or (stereotype B). and this, this admittance of stereotypes, can help UNITE all Americans, as it is something ALL cultures have in common.
We must not let our minds be rammed full of hatred, fear and misunderstanding. That allows those in power to conquer, as we divide ourselves with absurd hypersensitivity and political correctness.
Keep it up, ALIPAC soldiers. We can bring our nation to a great place with the right amount of brains and heart.
Joined: Apr 17, 2005 Posts: 4705 Location: North Carolina
Posted: Tue May 10, 2005 3:10 pm Post subject: Pictures
For some reason, I can't open the pictures of the monument. Maybe it's just as well because I really would prefer not to have to throw up right now!!
If we in North Carolina don't keep everlastingly at it, we are going to be just like California in a VERY short time. ALIPAC is doing a remarkable job and we aren't going to get in that position. It's really sad that California has just been destroyed by this ILLEGAL immigrant problem.
Joined: Apr 17, 2005 Posts: 4705 Location: North Carolina
Posted: Tue May 10, 2005 3:19 pm Post subject: MONUMENT
I went to the SaveOurState website and forced myself to look at the utterly offensive monument and I'm sorry to say that I had the exact reaction that I anticipated! EXCUSE ME WHILE I THROW UP! This is just the height of unmitigated gall. How in the world do they get away with that? I just can't believe that the City commissioned that piece of junk. Maybe they deserve what they got???
The pictures in this thread seem to be working now. I don't know if one of our moderators fixed it or not. The site that has the pictures went down for a few hours.
Posted: Wed May 11, 2005 2:51 pm Post subject: Diesel
Well spoken Tom2. I am ready to open up a can if you are. Americans
deserve better than to have their country invaded by a smart alec group
of people who are too afraid to talk that way in their own country, and they are close enough to home to walk back, now how bad is that.
They ready to fight, lets get it on.
I think my letter was polite and I hope specific enough. I'll post any responses I get.
Quote:
Dear Sir,
I am aware that your community proudly built the “Danzas Indigenas� monument located at the Baldwin Park Commuter Rail Station.
Because the inscriptions on the monument very closely resemble the radical tenets of the "Reconquista de Aztlan" movement, I wanted to inquire what your personal beliefs were regarding Reconquista.
The monument sits on public land, and I'm assuming was paid for with taxpayer funds. Therefore I request a personal response as to the verity of these inscribed statements and your official position on the same:
“This land was Mexican once,
was Indian always
and is,
And will be again.�
“It was better before they came.�
I understand that your community has a mestizo heritage that you are proud of. I have never been opposed to people honoring their heritage. But I'm concerned about the latent threat implied in the first quote (echoed stridently throughout the Reconquista movement and groups like MECHa); and the bitter regret and discontent sown into the second quote.
Specifically, as to the first quote "This land was Mexican once...and will be again.": do you personally advocate the "retaking" of the Southwestern U.S. for Mexico, or alternatively the establishment of Aztlan? What, specifically, does this quote mean to YOU?
I look forward to your thoughtful response to my letter.
Thank you,
Heidi H Thiess
_________________ HE!D!
A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by men better than himself. ~J.S. Mills
Joined: May 02, 2005 Posts: 136 Location: Southern California
Posted: Wed May 11, 2005 9:41 pm Post subject:
SOS' executive director, Joseph Turner (the only one wearing a tie), Lora McLaughlin, KCBS' blonde reporter, the KCBS camera crew (sorry, I don't know their names) and two elderly Baldwin Park residents, one of whom was also interviewed.
Posted: Sun May 15, 2005 4:25 am Post subject: Artist's Statement - Judith Baca's response to Baldwin Park
I wrote to all the community leaders of Baldwin Park about his monument, but have not received a response from anyone. That's hardly surprising.
In the meantime, the artist has posted a rebuttal of our concerns about the "Reconquista" overtones of the monument:
ARTIST STATEMENT
By Judith F. Baca
May 12, 2005
An “anti-illegal immigrant� group, Save Our State, of Ventura County, emboldened by their recent victory at the removal of a billboard referring to “Los Angeles, Mexico� is now demanding the removal of the wording on a twelve-year old monument in Baldwin Park, California, entitled Danzas Indigenas. I was commissioned to produce this work in 1993 by MTA and the City of Baldwin Park in collaboration with the Kate Diamond Architectural Group.
The monument consists of a 20 ft arch, 100 ft plaza and 400 ft train platform. Produced with extensive public input, the monument includes five languages: English, Spanish, Gabrielino, Chumash, Luiseño and is a layering of indigenous, Spanish and mestizo history, which is associated with the site.
Included also are the contemporary voices and diversity that is indicative of contemporary Baldwin Park. Asked to produce a work that was “mission in theme� that reflected the majority population of Latinos in the City of Baldwin Park, and in keeping with my practice as an artist for inclusion of community members in my design process, I designed this work to include the “past� and “present� of the region and the voices of local residents. Of particular interest to me was the sites proximity to the mission of San Gabriel. The arch in the Plaza is conceived of as a fragment of a mission arch. Its intention was to become a site of public memory for the people of Baldwin Park; to make visible their invisible history.
Local residents sentiments were included in the “present� side of the monument, with verbatim quotes sandblasted into the surface of the arch. Local residents of all ages and ethnic groups were recommended by the arts committee and the city council and interviewed. They were asked about their hopes for the future of Baldwin Park.
Additional statements from community members on the arch – which are not included in the discussion of the monument by the Save Our State group – include “Use your brain before you make up your mind�, “not just adults leading but youth leading too", “a small town feeling�, "when the Indians died the villages ended� and “the kind of community that people dream of rich and poor, white, brown, yellow all living together�. These statements all represent the community’s desires, and are featured prominently in the work of art.
The work is not a work of a lone artist working without relationship to the community, but rather a representation of community sensibilities and sentiment of the time. While this group has cast the artwork as part of a “Reconquista movement�, it is in fact neither advocating for the return of California to Mexico, nor wishing that Anglos had never come to this land. This statement “it was better before they came�, was deliberately ambiguous. About which “they� is the anonymous voice speaking? The statement was made by an Anglo local resident who was speaking about Mexicans. The ambiguity of the statement was the point, and is designed to say more about the reader than the speaker – and so it has.
The quote “this land was Mexican once, was Indian always, and is, and will be again� is by a critically acclaimed Chicana author, Gloria Anzaldua. On the Save Our State website, she is referred to as a “dead Chicana lesbian.� I chose this quote because the mission is one mile from the Mission San Gabriel, and descendants of the Gabrielinos still live in the region, making Anzaldua’s text particularly relevant to the increasing indigenous population. A correct reading of the quote makes it clear that this is not about Mexican “reconquista�, but about the land returning to its origins.
This is not a question only of my rights as an artist to not have my copyright violated, but also a question of “revisionist history� carved out twelve years after an extensive democratic public process produced this work. It is the collective vision of the people of Baldwin Park that is under attack by this Ventura group. What is most deserving of respect are the voices that are represented in the monument. Also deserving of respect, are the voices of the ancient indigenous who say in the first person “memory and will power� is how we retain the knowledge of our culture.
Our capacity as a democracy to disagree and to coexist is precisely the point of this work. No single statement can be seen without the whole, nor can it be removed without destroying the diversity of Baldwin Park’s voices. Silencing every voice with which we disagree, especially while taking quotes out of context, either through ignorance or malice, is profoundly un-American.
--Judith Baca
Baldwin Park Press Release _________________ HE!D!
A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by men better than himself. ~J.S. Mills
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