Students end hunger strike after UK president agrees to cover mural, take other steps.

Lexington Herald-Leader ^ | April 2, 2019 | LINDA BLACKFORD

[Republican Wildcat]

The 1930s fresco mural by Ann Rice O’Hanlon was painted as part of the federal Public Works of Art Project. It shows Lexington’s history from its settlement in a series of scenes. In one, black men and women are planting tobacco, and in another, a Native American man holds a tomahawk. Various efforts to remove the mural have been made since at least 2006.

In 2015, in response to a meeting with a group of black students, Capilouto ordered the mural to be shrouded. Then after meeting for a year, a UK task force said the mural should be uncovered, but accompanied by more contextual information and art. In 2018, UK commissioned prize-winning artist Karyn Olivier to add to the space, which she did with a gold painted dome emblazoned with figures from the mural and other historical minorities from Kentucky’s history.

Artists Karyn Olivier and Jay C. Lohmann convert the dome ceiling of University of Kentucky's Memorial Hall entrance into public art to contextualize a controversial mural found within the building made by Ann Rice O'Hanlon in 1934. By Marcus Dorsey Among numerous speakers, senior Mia Thompson spoke of the shame of bringing black speakers to UK, where the most iconic building on campus is decorated with pictures of slavery, while senior Kennedy Guess asked if UK had showed the mural to UK basketball star P.J. Washington Jr. during recruitment.

“You have the power to remove the mural or cover it up,” student Daniel Beasley told Capilouto. “This is a moment in time when people of color and marginalized communities are hurting ... take this step for the people of color on campus. We have experienced enough trauma.”

[TigersEye]

I have no idea what Ron White’s politics are and I don’t really care.