The Portland Public Arts Committee does not want to accept the gift of a statue showing a family of four heading to a baseball game. The reason for the denial? The family is white! Apparently, some members feel that Portland, Maine already has enough statues of white people. As stated by committee member Jack Soley, Portland had enough “white folks on pedestals”.

Ummm …. hello! The family isn’t white at all, it’s bronze! And, I think the bronze members of our society have been underrepresented long enough. For too long, the bronze among us have been typecast in Hawaiian Tropic commercials and as extras in Frankie and Annette movies. I think that Portland should take the bold step of proudly displaying a bronze family in its city square and stop making excuses that no one is going to believe! For a state that is 97% white, this act would go a long way in welcoming other minority populations to live within its borders.