Petition to take down anti-cop art funded by Office of Cultural Affairs (SJ) surpasses 500 mark

As the debate about the Fallon statue continues, many are left wondering why some controversial public art is cancelled and other (surprise! left-leaning) art continues to get city support and funding, even in the face of mass community protest. For example, the online petition to take down Americana, artwork from the Holding The Moment public art show which depicted violence against police officers, has surpassed 500 signees. And the petition has earned the support of the Silicon Valley Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 52. Cindy Calderon and Tim Jackson of the Lodge had these comments about the artwork in an exclusive Opportunity Now interview with Jonathan Fleming:

Jonathan Fleming: Michael Ogilvie, Director of Art for the Office of Cultural Affairs, stated “The exhibit online is intended to be up indefinitely.” Why don’t they take it down and what message is is being sent to our law enforcement community across the United States and to government employees who are victims of hostile work environments by keeping this online? 

Cindy Calderon: I feel like the city is saying we don’t care about law enforcement here or anywhere, that law enforcement is the enemy, and that they are actively inciting violence against law enforcement. 

Tim Jackson: I think it is bullying and arrogance. A lot of the time with the city, you almost have to force litigation against them in order to get them to act and that is a shame. Right is right, and wrong is wrong. This artwork is violent, I don’t care how you try to frame it – this is violence against your law enforcement community. The right thing to do is just to take it down, remove it from city publications. It just takes a click of a button to take it down off a website. We as officers love the cities we work in, we love the communities that we work for, or else we wouldn't be doing this job. The job is hard enough and anything that promotes violence shouldn’t be on a government website. 

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