Blog of the Week: Is Painting Black and Latina Women Ghetto?

Take a good look at the imagery in this mural painted by Sofia Maldonado. Do you think it's ghetto? Well, a lot of people do. Watch this clip from Fox News before I get into the featured blog:

I don't think the images are negative. I think it's the artist's vision of women who would otherwise never bee scene in Times Square. These women are the reason why artists like Fergie, Ke$ha and even Beyonce dress the way they do. This week's featured blog is from Nuyorican activist Marisol LeBron, who defended the artist's work.

LeBron writes:

The most striking thing to me about the video and article was the conflation of working-class/poor women of color with "prostitutes." That people were able to argue that these women with their "long finger nails" were sex workers of Times Square's heyday was really complicated and problematic. It speaks volumes about the degree to which Times Square is not a space for "certain types" of New Yorkers, but rather a sanitized Disney version of New York City. In that respect I appreciate Maldonado's claim that her mural makes visitors confront an image of NYC that they much rather ignore.

Ironically, the artist's goal was to depict women she describes as strong, beautiful and who don't get the respect they deserve. But on the flip side, there are community activists who think the imagery is demeaning to Black and Latina women and are protesting to get it taken down. I think it's wack that people are focusing on the negative instead of the fact that here is a Puerto Rican-Cuban young woman who made something of herself with her talent and got commissioned to create a painting in one of the biggest intersections in the world. This is another case of crabs in the barrel and I wish her luck. The mural is supposed to run through April 30 but I hope it lasts.

You can read the rest of LeBron's blog here, but in the mean time, what are your thoughts?

Is Maldonado's vision wrong? Are the protesters right?