The problem we all live with, painted by Norman Perceval Rockwell is most likely the most significant painting for African-American History. It was painted in 1964, to call awareness to how evil the world was/is.
The painting shows a scene in the South of the U.S, during the 60’s. In it, the little six year old black girl Ruby Bridges is walking to school with her notebook, a ruler, tow pens, and a book. She’s not walking alone though. She is walking in-between four Deputy U.S. Marshals. Two walking in front of her, and two walking behind her. The side walk they walk on, leads them along a wall spray painted with the words ¨KKK¨ and ¨Nigger¨. A tomato lies at the foot of one of the Marshals, that has splashed against the wall, probably nearly hitting the girl. She looks like none of this is bothering her though, her eyes are fixed straight ahead, as she takes long strides in her little white shoes and her pressed white dress to catch up with the Deputies in front of her so the ones behind her can catch up.
First thing you think when you look at the painting, is ¨Oh good, looks like Martin Luther King Jr’s dream came true. Little black girls, and little black boys can finally join hands with little white boys and little white girls, and walk on the same side walk together¨ Then you look at the painting more closely, and you see whats actually going on. The white guy is her bodyguard, protecting her from the evil surrounding her. You see the tomato on the floor and the tomato stains on the wall. The Deputy U.S. Marshal name tags that the guys walking with her are wearing, the dirt on the and the road, and the mean words on the wall. Then reality hits. Little black boys, and little black girls don’t hold the hands of little white boys and little white girls to sing together yet. Little black children have to be brought to school with bodyguards so they can safely arrive at a white school, so they can be taught in a room by themselves because no one wants to be in her class room. It hurts. It hurts to see how mean the world can be, and how life can change path suddenly to your surprise, and leave you standing alone and hurt.
Norman Perceval Rockwell painted this painting to call attention to the unfairness of life. To call attention to how the blacks had to suffer. To call attention to the scared and the hurt. It is important for us to try to understand the hurt, evil and hatred we have caused, but we must try to forget and move on. But, we are never to forget the scares we have left behind. We must move on remembering the life’s that it has cost us to reach the point that we are at now. We must keep walking down the road called life with the memories, and the intention to change things. And like my grandfather had already always said: Try not to blame, but try to understand, and try to learn from it.
The painting is originally painted on a canvas, with oil paint. The colors are dull, but still full of life. Every stroke of the brush seems to be painted by the hand of hope and loss. The painting is painted, so that you can not see the heads of the Marshals, or the crowd throwing tomatoes, as it is painted from his/her point of view.
