A painting of George Floyd as Jesus hung at a Catholic university clearly shows the top-down nature of progressive radicalism in 2021 America.
Politicians, company bosses and college administrators fall under the “woke” spell, then try to impose it on their captive audiences: constituents, employees and students.
But the paintings that went up at the Catholic University of America have drawn “universally negative” reactions from students, according to one junior, and a petition has even been started to remove them.
Calling the paintings “heretical, blasphemous idolatry” (one is in the law school chapel and an identical copy hangs in the campus ministry office, the Daily Signal has reported), student Blayne Clegg told Fox News.
“There’s a fine line between recognizing the innate dignity and righteousness of human beings that are made in the image of God and embracing brazen, progressive politics,” Clegg said.
The university’s response to having its “wokeness” called out has, predictably, been clumsily evasive. A statement from the school’s vice president of communications quibbled: “There are those who would like to see George Floyd as the male figure in the icon. That is not how we read it. The image represents to our community a good-faith attempt to include religious imagery on campus that reflects the universality of the Catholic Church.”
Asked whether the male figure in her Pietà -like painting “Mama” represents Jesus or Floyd, artist Kelly Latimore, the artist, has answered “Yes.”
The university hung the “Mama” pictures to observe Black History Month, according to a March news release from the law school’s website. “Following the violent death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, Latimore created this icon in June of that year,” a caption posted with the painting reads.
