The panel, a collaboration between OLAA and the GJP, depicts a white hand dangling money over reaching black hands.

A mural commissioned for Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM) depicts a white hand with the word “wealth” written next to it dangling money over five black hands that are accompanied by the word “poverty.” The mural, titled “Challenging the Future a Square at a Time,” was moved to the O’Neill Library after previously being displayed in the lobby of Gasson Hall.

This particular mural is one of three murals that Boston College’s Arts and Social Responsibility Project (ASRP) sponsored for an art exhibition titled “Strength in Unity,” one of six HHM art exhibitions. The mural itself was painted as a result of collaboration between the Organization of Latin American Affairs (OLAA), HHM organizers, and the Global Justice Project (GJP), a left-wing campus organization.

Sources inside the GJP revealed that HHM Co-chair and former OLAA President Bryan Leyva asked GJP member Richard Rhom to recruit artists to help paint the mural. According to an October 8th email that Rhom sent to GJP members, OLAA was “interested in finding some talented artists for one of their exhibitions.”

Rhom’s email continued by stating that the “idea is to make each square represent an issue regarding social justice taking place anywhere across the globe. Considering our very name, this is quite relevant! At least twelve, and at most all sixteen paintings, are to be painted by our group.” Leyva confi rmed that he asked the GJP to help paint the mural. The individual artists have not been identified at this point, and both the GJP and the ASRP have been unavailable for comment. Professor Dennis Hale of the political science department denounced the painting as “foolish” and “self-defeating.” He added that “It is a common understanding among progressives that poverty is caused by white people, or by rich people; in fact, some people think ‘rich’ and ‘white’ are synonyms.” Noting that progressives have never made any “serious contributions to ending poverty,” Hale concluded that “the ultimate victims of this particular ideology will be poor people everywhere.”

However, Professor Martin Summers of the history department offered a more favorable assessment of the mural and noted that the art intended to provoke discussion: “The artist(s) clearly wanted to provoke a discussion about the historic economic exploitation and marginalization of people of African descent, whether it is slavery or sharecropping or the convict-lease system or the exclusion of African Americans from labor unions until the mid-20th century or the role of discriminatory lending practices in preventing the generational transfer of wealth within the black community.”

While Summers acknowledged that the artist’s portrayal of the issues at hand did not tell the entire story of racism’s history, he said that “one of the roles of art, it seems to me, is to provoke discussion. And it has done that.”

The Arts and Social Responsibility Project operates under Boston College’s Center for Arts and Social Responsibility (CASR). Founded in 2009, the center’s website states that its mission is to “build upon the student’s passion for all types of art and performance in combination with social responsibility to create engaging new projects, lectures and coursework.”

The mission statement also adds that “CASR functions on the belief that every person has the capacity and responsibility to make positive social change. Through ongoing dialogues with the students and faculty, we will continue imagining creative new initiatives, empowering students to develop and practice their passion for the arts as a means to become ‘men and women for others.’”

The CASR is sponsoring a number of recent GJP-promoted events, including a Nicaraguan grass-roots arts movement “promoting the empowerment of youth, with a focus on gender equity through programs in art, music, dance, spirituality and theatre for social justice,” and a “Living Theatre” workshop.

Related Articles:

1. Art and Society Intersect in a New Organization The Jesuit spirituality of Boston College calls the...
2. Local Archdiocese History Featured in O’Neill At the O’Neill Library, a display providing information...