American Censorship

Recently Yazmany Arboleda attempted to showcase a pair of art exhibitions in Manhattan titled, “The Assassination of Hillary Clinton” and “The Assassination of Barack Obama.” The police in that area almost immediately closed the exhibition on the basis of censorship. The Secret Service were also present and held Mr. Arboleda for questioning most of the day and did not allow him to answer questions from reporters for some time.

This is American Censorship at its worst. This is completely going against the freedom of speech which is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. After viewing the content personally on the artist’s websites, it is quite obvious that the police closed the exhibition on the basis of the title alone and not the content of the galleries. Mr. Arboleda stated that the art was supposed to portray character assassination by the media and the word ‘assassination’ should not be taken literally. The content for both exhibitions, Obama and Clinton, could be described as provocative and perhaps a bit lewd. But in my opinion the two worst offenses were a description as Hillary Clinton as, "The Antidote to Niggeritis” and a sprawling picture of a gargantuan black penis at the Obama gallery intended to reference some of the common stereotypes associated with black males. All things considered, this is not terribly shocking material. It is not uncommon, and is a form of art.

Mr. Arboleda may have been toeing the line on what is considered acceptable among the American public by using a few edgy words and showing a giant penis. But can you not go to your neighborhood video store and rent videos that are much more graphic and use coarser language than what was presented by Mr. Arboleda? These videos are not censored and are readily available for purchase. So why would Mr. Arboleda’s art exhibit be censored and closed when it is only showing what is already available for people see everyday if they so choose? This is just another ridiculous example of the American government trying to tell its citizens how to live their lives. It should not have been censored and the government needs to focus on more important things.