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Dimensions
26.000 x 34.000 inches
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Title
Pruning of Negro Suffrage
Artist
David G Wilson
Medium
Painting - Oil On Canvas
Description
The incarceration of a young black man on a felony conviction precludes his right to vote. In the past, the "Civics Literary Test" was used to deprive blacks of their voting rights, with test questions such as "How many bubbles are there in a bar of soap?" This is the criterion for voting rights to which former congressman, Tom Tancredo would like to revert. Presently, the most common means of stripping young black men of their voting rights is to seek and gain a felony conviction against them on the flimsiest of charges like a school yard fight, as in the case of the Jena 6.
Here, in this painting, one sees a young black man sitting in his prison cell, which is illuminated by an oil lamp. This anarchronistic system of illumination is indicative of an inadequate educational opportunities. This inadequate system of intellectual illumination casts an ominous shadow on the walls of the future. The prisoner is unaware that a felony conviction will preclude his right to the vote. So, in the "correctional system", a contrary outcome materializes from the purpose for which it is designed. Instead, he becomes a hardened criminal who is now part of a revolving door "correctional system" only to provide jobs far away from the neigborhood where he grew up.
While the prisoner sits in his cell, his back and shadow depict the eventual outcome of his life, angry and perpetually behind bars because of his recidivism and mocked by the silhouetted profile of General Stonewall Jackson. � David G. Wilson
Uploaded
June 21st, 2010
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