Living in Burlingame is a special privilege. That is obvious to most of us. There is even a great video titled "The problem with spending time in Burlingame is you don't want to go anywhere else". It wasn't particularly controversial either until some library employees tried to make it so. John Horgan at the Daily Journal first brought this to the public's attention a couple of weeks ago here. He has done us all a great service by shining light on the absurd and insulting move by the library to cover up the caption on the mural with a shroud that now says "Living in Burlingame is for everyone". Here's one long-time resident's take on it in a letter to the DJ
I recently learned in your newspaper that a folk art mural from the early 1960s that has hung in the library reading room for years has been altered. The mural depicts various buildings, churches and streets from that era. According to Burlingame City Librarian Brad McCulley, some members of his staff took issue with the slogan at the bottom, which said “it’s a privilege to live in Burlingame.” The library created their own slogan, which states “Living in Burlingame is for everyone.” Their new slogan now covers up the original slogan from the 1960s. In other words, they have desecrated a work of art.
Apparently, the staff took issue with the word “privilege.” Here is another instance of cancel culture and censorship. People rewriting history. It’s easy these days to summon groups to condemn words. But it takes guts to stand up to the rhetoric. I have a pin that the Burlingame Library gave out last year. It says “I read banned books.” Kind of ironic. Over the years, I have heard countless people say “it’s a privilege to live in the United States.” I guess we can’t say that anymore, according to the standards of our city librarian.
Constance Quirk
Burlingame
Covering the mural caption is the kind of nonsense one would expect from San Francisco (e.g. the Washington High School shenanigans that helped get some school board members recalled). Covering it with a ridiculous motto that is patently untrue is a sign of managerial incompetence. John Horgan concluded his piece thusly:
Ironically, even that attractive sentiment has a ring of inaccuracy and false hope since housing prices in the city are extremely high and only some people can afford to dwell there. But at least the new motto cannot be viewed as elitist. On further review, however, maybe a more accurate sentence would be: “Living in Burlingame is for everyone who can afford it.”
John's being polite with the "ring of inaccuracy". People have earned the special privilege of living here. Some few may have inherited the privilege, but that just means their parents or grandparents earned it. If we have city employees (employees we pay!) who think differently, we need some new employees. Any library trustee who went along with this needs to rethink their responsibilities and priorities. I've also heard the library foundation paid for the shroud. If that is the case, donors may choose to find a more worthy charity–there are lots to choose from. I've been told this issue did not come before the city council, but it should. The Voice blog will turn 20 years old in a couple of months and until now I didn't think we needed a specific category for the library. We do now and so one has been added. It's time for more oversight and it's time to take down this insulting shroud.
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