Mayor Heidi Harmon’s comments are racist and sexist

July 26, 2019

OPINION by T. KEITH GURNEE

In reiterating her comment that public art in San Luis Obispo should not include “monuments to old white men”, Mayor Heidi Harmon has completed a trifecta of identity politics invectives: in one sentence she made a statement that was ageist, racist, and sexist.

And not only did our SLO City Council tolerate her sentiments, it embraced them.

Rather than monuments to people, Heidi wants monuments that celebrate “ideas and ideals.” But the last time I looked, it’s people who have ideas and articulate ideals. Yes, people have flaws. Nobody is perfect, but sometimes imperfect people have great ideas and accomplish great things.

The project that spurred her remarks was the proposed sculpture of Teddy Roosevelt to be placed in Mitchell Park where he visited in 1903 after getting off the train and addressing the people of San Luis Obispo on his way to meet John Muir on a tour of Yosemite Valley. Now Teddy was not only a person with grand “ideas,” he had the unique ability to accomplish them.

What about the “idea” of establishing the National Park System? Right after reading Heidi’s latest remarks, I was watching the PBS presentation of the Ken Burns film “The National Parks: America’s Greatest Idea” that attributed the accomplishment of that “idea” to none other than Theodore Roosevelt?

What about the “idea” of an American president interceding into a war between two faraway foreign nations and negotiating a peaceful ending to the 1904-1905 Russo Japanese War for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906? He was the first American ever to receive such an award.

What about Roosevelt’s “ideas” of completing the “path between the seas” with the Panama Canal, his “trust busting” under the Sherman Antitrust Act, and his accomplishments in regulating safe food and drugs for the American public?

And Heidi, what about his founding of the original Progressive Party in 1912? Of course, that was the true Progressive Party, not the twisted one of today.

When the issue of public art returns to the SLO City Council, hopefully they will have the temerity and courage to admit their mistake and right their wrong.

Not only should they allow the statue of Teddy Roosevelt to proceed, they should also start the dialogue of erecting a statue to Maxine Lewis, a remarkable African-American woman who was a hero to our local poor and indigent from the 1960s into the 1980s.

As the founder of the local anti-poverty nonprofit organizations Grassroots and Grassroots II, she struggled to raise funds to feed, clothe, and serve the needs of the needy. My wife cooked the first of what became many Thanksgiving turkey dinners served by Maxine to the poor at the Grassroots office on South Higuera Street right next to Ben Franklin’s sandwich shop. What a proper place for a statue of that great lady!

But I digress. Lo and behold, right when I was sending this to CCN, up pops the blockbuster CCN article on the SLO Police Chief and her missing gun.

At a time when our law enforcement personnel needs more support than ever, is this what we do to support them?

Heidi’s intolerance of statues commemorating famous people is one thing But our mayor and council chooses to shelter a documented woman-beater on their staff while coddling the gun cover-up of their police chief?

The cover-up always gets them. And how’s that for one of Heidi’s great ideas?

Madam mayor and council members, get a grip. Do something. Take responsibility. When the time comes to reconsider your public art policy and the future of your police chief, please reverse your bad ideas.