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Thursday, July 21st, 2005
Attorney General Displays Anti-American Art
Anti-American Art at Department of Justice
 .... (SACRAMENTO) – California’s top law enforcement officer, Attorney General Bill Lockyer, has set off a firestorm by showcasing anti-American, anti-military, anti-Christian and anti-Semitic artwork in the California Department of Justice building. “A Creative Merger: Lawyers & Artists” exhibit features a number of offensive, anti-American exhibits including a U.S. flag in the shape of the continental United States being flushed down a toilet. Pictures from the exhibit can be found at the website for Move America Forward (website: www.MoveAmericaForward.org), a pro-troop, non-profit organization that is organizing a counter-exhibit showcasing patriotic artwork. The exhibit is sponsored by a taxpayer funded entity (the California Arts Council) and California’s top law enforcement officer, Attorney General Bill Lockyer. Lockyer is listed as an official sponsor of the event according to a press release issued on July 12, 2005 by the California Arts Council (a taxpayer-funded entity). The news release quotes Lockyer as saying: “It is an honor to co-host this powerful exhibit and display the talent of our legal community,” Lockyer said. “Creative expression stimulates freedom of thought, appreciation for diversity and opens new windows onto the world in which we live. The collected works of these fine artists – and lawyers – achieve these worthwhile objectives with style and beauty.” A copy of the press release citing Lockyer’s sponsorship of the exhibit along with the sponsorship of the taxpayer-funded Californa Arts Council is available at the Move America Forward website (www.MoveAmericaForward.org). The piece featuring the American flag being flushed down a toilet is the work of Berkeley, California resident, Steve Pearcy, who previously displayed U.S. Soldiers hanged in effigy from a noose on the front of his second home in Sacramento, California. The Pearcy’s also displayed the Iraqi flag of dictator Saddam Hussein and the flag of the Palestinian uprising. At the time of the anti-troop effigy, Move America Forward in conjunction with radio talk show host Mark Williams of KFBK 1530-Sacramento, organized a “Support Our Troops” candlelight vigil in front of the effigy, drawing several hundred people. “Any time someone seeks to dishonor our troops, we must step forward and make our voices heard that this nation will stay united, and never cease to support our troops and their brave fight against the threats of terrorism,” said Melanie Morgan, Chairman of Move America Forward. Now, in response to the taxpayer funded embrace of anti-American, anti-military, and anti-Semitic “art,” Move America Forward is teaming up again with Williams to provide a pro-American response to the Pearcy-Lockyer attack on our American heritage, a pro-American art exhibit entitled, “I LOVE AMERICA.” “The Pearcy piece (a stylized US Flag being flushed down a toilet) is just one of several offensive pieces hosted by Lockyer. Others in the state sponsored collection include anti-Christian and anti-Semitic rants,” said Mark Williams. Williams and Morgan both just returned from “The Voices of Soldiers” Truth Tour in Iraq. The two talk show hosts interviewed hundreds of soldiers and Marines who explained that anti-American and anti-military stories back home saddened them. “Bill Lockyer has moved to the front of the pack of infamous traitors and will long be remembered as today’s Jane Fonda. Make no mistake about it; not only are tax dollars sponsoring this display but if the Attorney General did not endorse the views on display they would have been taken down, if put up at all,” Williams said. The patriotic “I LOVE AMERICA” exhibit will feature pro-American artwork (featuring the U.S. Flag, the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces, etc…) that are designed by the public. Move America Forward and Williams are asking that a note of support accompany each submission, addressed to a soldier/Marine/sailor/airman serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq) or Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). The individual pieces of art will be amassed into one giant display that will be showcased to the public outside the California Justice Department (1300 I Street) on Thursday, July 28, 2005 from 3:30 PM until 10:00 PM. The general public is invited to view the exhibit.
Move America Forward will then enclose each individual submission (along with note of support for our troops) along with bags of coffee and boxes of cookies sent to our troops overseas – as part of the organization’s “Coffee & Cookies for Our Troops” program.
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