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STATUE: Symbol is truly symbolic

Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 13 years, 7 months AGO
| June 15, 2011 10:00 PM

As a regular attendee of the Art Walk events, I found myself parking on Seventh Street. As I headed down Sherman I noticed quite a crowd at Sixth Street. It was the dedication of the Coeur d’Alene Arts Commission “ArtCurrents” program. Several of the city officials and Arts Commission members were explaining/introducing the placement of 14 pieces of sculpture around the city. Having seen many of these works of art around Coeur d’Alene, I was interested in the project.  

My attention was also attracted to a small group of people standing on the southwest corner of Sixth and Sherman holding signs in objection to the sculpture across the street. The sculpture was entitled Ganesha, the Hindu god who lords over success. Since our nation is open to religions of all faiths, I couldn’t understand the furor it seemed to evoke in the folks across the street.

Standing near the Ganesha sculpture, I took a close look at it to see what the fuss was about. Looking back at the small group on the other side of sixth, I noticed that it seemed to be headed by Danny Brannan, chairman of the Constitution Party. So much for freedom of religion! 

Then suddenly, Eureka! It became obvious to me why this art object was so objectionable to the folks across the street. Anyone could see that this statue was of an ELEPHANT holding weapons in two of its arms with another two arm-like projections appearing ready to grab anything coming within reach.

The true opposition to the statue was the audacity of the Hindus to have used the Republicans’ mascot! The “Pachyderm!”

DAVID LARSEN

Coeur d’Alene

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