Emilie Cevallos

December 13th, 2018

Michael Spinelli

Who Decides What Truth Should be Expressed?

If you see someone in pain or that has just suffered a tragic event, do not try to

comfort or support them in any way, you don’t have the right! Hannah Black is an artist

and writer who dedicated her art to address cultural issues in the modern world being a

black woman. When Hannah Black hears about the painting by Dana Schutz’s “Open

Casket,” a painting made to retell the story of an young innocent black man, 14 year old

Emmett Till, that was tortured and killed, she goes out of her ways to get it removed

from the walls of the Whitney Biennials Museum and have it destroyed so it will never

be seen or sold in the future. Hannah sends a letter to the curators of the museum,

addressing the issues of her concerns, stating that the White artist has no right to

display her art about Black suffering for her gains.“The painting should not be

acceptable to anyone who cares or pretends to care about Black people because it is

not acceptable for a white person to transmute Black suffering into profit and fun,

though the practice has been normalized for a long time.” Hannah Black's argument can

be seen as quite valid and does make good points that can be understood by many.

She also has the very right to share her thoughts and arguments, but there are many

reasons to disregard the actions she demands to be made. The painting “Open Casket”

besides its controversies should remain on public display because removing the
painting and then destroying it falls under the rubric of Humanitarian Threat, and if the

actions Hannah Black calls for are taken it would be a complete disregard and violation

of Rauch’s theory of Liberal science.

When Emmett Till was killed, his condition was so severe that he was

unrecognizable, but that didn’t stop his mother from sharing the tragedy that had

occurred to her loving son. She orders for an open casket, in efforts to share with the

world the devastating story of an innocent young Black boy. White artist Dana Schutz

found common grounds in the story, “I don't know what is like to be black in America,

but I do know what it is like to be a mother.” Being a mother she believed to understand

what the Mamie Till’s had to go through. With that, she became inspired by the story to

create the painting “Open Casket.” Hannah Black saw no real connections at all; she

strongly argued that there was no possible way that a white artist could ever understand

the pain of Black suffering. She then goes to say that Schutz’ was just using Black

suffering as raw material. She does convey a valid statement, that a white privileged

female could not relate to the tragic story of Emmett Till at the same level as the Black

culture itself. Dana Schutz could never have the same personal level of understanding

the years of oppression falling back throughout history for many years. But all her other

arguments proposed by Black are nothing but assumptions. Dana’s Painting was of

non-profit, as she made it very clear to the curators of the Museum that all she wanted

was keep the story alive and keep Mamie till’s wishes of “letting people see what she

has seen,” and had no proven intentions to be hung for entertainment purposes. Even if
Black is correct about the painting capitalizing hundreds of years of oppression, having

a white artist trying to share that pain and taking a step forward to have a better

understanding, makes it all a greater reason to keep the painting right where it is .

Maybe the White race could never relate, but the fact that she made that effort to try to

understand makes it something worth being shared with the world.

When it comes to cultural appropriation, Hannah Black’s counterarguments and

concerns, discussed in her letter to the curators of the Biennials Museum, did have a

truthful sense. Although, what she demanded to be done as a consequence was a

violation of Rauch’s theory of Liberal Science. Artists, Black and Schutz, have the right

to freedom of speech, but it is more than just allowing them to say what they wish.

Rauch’s Theory advocates for a system of complete freedom of expression, and by

permitting a society to do so, only then will we be able to separate the truth from all said

beliefs. “Prevailing standard for distinguishing between reality and illusion, between

objective knowledge and personal belief.” (“Kindly Inquisitors”) Hannah Black argues

from a personal level, what she feels and how she is affected by the painting created by

Schutz is not factual. It wouldn’t make sense to take the action of destroying Schutz

work just because of that reason. According to Jonathan Rauch, in order for society to

reach a point where all agree to one belief, one system, or one idea, all individuals must

be allowed to unleash their opinions and express whatever they deem to be right . By

doing so there will be hurt feeling, pain, and seemingly eternal conflict . If we go on living

this way, choosing sides or fighting for personal beliefs, eventually a form of “evolution”
will take place and they Ideas that survive to the end will be the ones that will be

considered true. By allowing the painting to be destroyed because it does not

correspond to the beliefs of Hannah Black, we are closing off Dana Schutz from

expressing her beliefs. Like Jonathan Rauch expressed, “A thriving liberal society

harnesses the conflict of opinions to enhance progress. What is to be said to a person

who demands recognition or compensation because he is offended or hurt by the words

or opinions of others?” Instead of seeing the good intentions behind the painting “Open

Casket,” Black wants recognition for standing up for something that she decided to

assume the offensive. Based on the theory of Liberal Science, Hannah’s argument is

not valid to the point of destroying a painting.

Hannah Black found a painting titled “Open Casket” by Dana Schutz hanging on

display at the Whitney Biennials Museum. She found the art piece utterly offensive to

black culture when realizing it was created by a white artist. She believed Schutz’

intentions came from hate and disrespect, accusing her of using black material as

entertainment or a way to make a profit. She goes along with her beliefs to order the

museum to destroy the painting through an argumentative letter. Taking into

consideration, Rauches Theory of Liberal Science, and the assumptions rather than

facts proposed by Black, the art piece of Dana Schutz has no reason to be taken down

from public display to then be destroyed. It is understandable the some will always find

fallibility in others opinions or statements, but that is simply how the world must work

and eventually the truth will be discovered and separated from what’s false.