RantCrush Top 5: March 22, 2017

A controversial painting of Emmett Till, a black teenager who was brutally murdered in 1955, has caused protesters to sign a petition to have the painting both removed and destroyed. The painting, entitled “Open Casket” by artist Dana Schutz, is on display at the 2017 Whitney Biennial. But protesters have accused Schutz, who is white, of exploiting Till’s death for her own gain. The painting displays 14-year-old Till lying in an open casket. Till was brutally beaten by two white men after he was accused of flirting with a white woman in 1955. British artist Hannah Black launched the petition to remove the painting, which had some thirty signatures by Tuesday afternoon. But she also removed the signatures of some white signatories and said that it’s “better to include only black signatories.”

Black wrote in a statement that it’s “not acceptable for a white person to transmute Black suffering into profit and fun.” Schutz disagrees with that characterization, pointing out that she never intended to sell it, and that she created it after last summer’s racial tensions. Schutz, who is a mother, said that after listening to interviews with Till’s mother she could relate to the horror of anything happening to one’s child. The Whitney has yet to disclose whether it will remove the painting, but the controversy has created plenty of buzz on social media:

@mialocks Schutz’ Emmett Till painting is an act of violence. Not just a politically charged work. It reads as declaration of triumph.

— n-prolenta (@molten_ego) March 16, 2017

The crime is the killing of Emmett Till, not the representation of it. #FreeDanaSchutz

— Deborah Solomon (@deborahsolo) March 22, 2017

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.