East Tennessee State University is defending an art display that portrays Republicans as Nazis and KKK members. The display also equated the swastika with the Christian cross. Watch my news report on the story below.
Dr. Brian Noland, the president of the taxpayer-funded university, seemed to suggest that state law prevented him from taking action to shut down the display.
“As a Christian and the son of a veteran, I can say that I personally find some of the views expressed in this year’s exhibit abhorrent,” Noland said in a statement to The Todd Starnes Show. “However, as the president of a public university, which is bound by the laws of the State of Tennessee as well as the U.S. Constitution, I must ensure that our university adheres to state and federal law.”CLICK HERE to get our daily newsletter for conservative news and commentary.
Campus Reform first reported on the offensive art displayed at the ETSU Reece Museum. Among the art pieces is an image of President-elect Trump alongside swastikas, Hitler and white KKK hoods.
Another image features a cartoon drawing of House Speaker Mike Johnson along with a series of swastikas that morph into crosses. What kind of a sick-thinking does it take to suggest that Christianity is akin to Nazism?
But for me – one of the most offensive pieces of art was a KKK hood – clearly constructed from an actual American flag. The artist wanted you to know he or she or they or them believe Old Glory is a symbol of white supremacy.Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told The Todd Starnes Show that he is “tired of our tax dollars being used to teach kids to hate our country.”
He wrote a letter to the university asking them to take down the “disturbing and hateful left wing propaganda.”
“My father fought in World War II and my mother few an airplane for the war effort,” the congressman wrote in a letter to the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Some, like my Uncle Roy, gave their lives fighting tyrannical regimes in Europe and the Pacific – fighting for the very flag tragically defiled and on display at your university.”Connor Vincent is the vice president of the university’s TPUSA chapter. And he tells Campus Reform that the university is promoting hate.
“It shows a lot about our administration here at ETSU, that they are allowing these pieces of hateful artwork to be raffled off and using the profits to pay for a student’s school,” he said.
Television station WCYB interviewed one of the jurors of the exhibit – Meaghan Dee. She said:
“The exhibit itself I think is meant to be a space to be sharing ideas and building communities and providing support as well as a platform for artist to express their work and celebrate their creations and so forth and share their stories.”
She urged people not to lose sight that the Trump Nazi imagery is meant to be an opportunity for dialogue. And what better way to strike up a conversation with conservatives than to portray them as a bunch of racist, jack-booted Nazis?
Now, the Left will argue that art is meant to provoke and be offensive. As a matter of fact -the display is actually described as being socially and politically engaging. I get that. But I wonder if East Tennessee State University would be so progressive if an artist wanted to portray Kamala Harris in a KKK robe or Barack Obama searching for his birth certificate? Listen to my daily podcast below:
