Hatred tore down a banner of beauty, but unity and love will restore it

Embracing Our Differences celebrates the full spectrum of human potential. We believe each individual should be the best they can be. What keeps people down? Hate, prejudice, indifference and abuse are the key barriers to personal growth. The liberating values of inclusion, uniqueness and diversity demolish those barriers. That’s why we celebrate them.

To all of us at Embracing Our Differences, our values aren’t just beautiful thoughts. They frame the way we see the world. They open our eyes to the beauty of others – and illuminate our inner beauty as well.

That’s the goal behind Embracing Our Differences' annual outdoor exhibition at Bayfront Park in downtown Sarasota. Each year, artists near and far open our eyes to the beauty that’s inside us and all around us.

Our 20th anniversary exhibition, which is on display right now, offers many stunning examples. Donna M. Richardson’s “Women of the Bluest Eye” is one of them. It’s a painting of two young Black girls – with royal blue eyes.

The meaning of Richardson’s enigmatic image?

The artist was inspired by Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye.” The novel explores the cultural codes defining beauty and self-worth. It makes these issues personal through the story of Pecola, an African American girl growing up in the 1940s, who doesn’t fit the prevailing standard of beauty in that time. Pecola thinks she’s ugly because her skin is dark, her eyes brown. She wishes for blue eyes. That would make her beautiful.

According to Richardson, the little girl already was beautiful – she just didn’t know it. That truth is the meaning of her art. And this entire exhibition.

“‘Embracing our Differences’ means embracing and celebrating what makes every individual beautiful, unique and worthy of love,” notes Richardson in her artist’s statement. “You never know; they may grow up to be an Academy Award-winning actress or the first black woman billionaire.”

As it happens, the girls in her painting did. They happen to be Oprah Winfrey and Viola Davis. (Richardson based their portraits on childhood photographs.) Two little girls with dark skin. Both grew up to be the best version of themselves. What a beautiful world it would be if every child could do that.

Richardson’s art shines a light on the beauty of the people we meet each day. Young, old, Black, white, tall, short. Each unique individual is uniquely beautiful. No two people are the same. And that’s why they’re beautiful.

Richardson’s liberating artwork makes that beauty visible. It touched our hearts and made us smile. How could you not love it?  Impossibly, someone hated it – and they released their hate before midnight on Jan. 31.

They must have stood before the vinyl banner and looked at the larger-than-life image. Perhaps they also considered sixth grader Ojasvi Ramani’s quote beside it.

"An ideal world would be one where you accept others, but a perfect world is one where you accept yourself.”

Beautiful art. A beautiful thought.

Somehow, that beautiful sight filled their hearts with hate.

This person slashed the banner, ripped off the straps keeping it in place and, with unnatural strength, kicked over the heavy metal tripod that held it up – along with two other banners. The attack probably only took a few minutes. But it was devastating.

Where beauty had stood, now there was only wreckage. The attacker had made the world a little more ugly.

How did that feel?  As the vandal walked away, what was in their minds?

A sense of triumph?

Contempt?

A gleeful sense of getting away with it?

We’ll never know what they were thinking. But we will know who did it.

The vandal (or vandals) probably thought nobody saw them. But they were wrong. Someone had witnessed their hateful attack. Many people would play it safe and keep silent. But this witness stood up and called the Sarasota Police Department. We’re happy to say the police also stood up. And took immediate action.

As of Feb. 2, the authorities have a suspect identified. They’re also re-interviewing the witness. There’s a good chance the perpetrator (or perpetrators) will be tried in a courtroom. Legal justice would be good. A change of heart would be better.

We’re happy to add that the beauty that hate destroyed will also be restored.

Embracing Our Differences has already asked our printers to reprint the banner. Our setup crew is obtaining the machinery to put it back in place. This will cost Embracing Our Differences about $3,000 in printing and labor. It’s a major expense. But it will bring a little more beauty back into the world.

We think it’s worth it.

Sarah Wertheimer is executive director of Embracing Our Differences.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota's unity will restore a work of beauty tore down by ugly hate