Norman Rockwell Civil Rights Painting, 'The Problem We All Live With', Hung Outside Oval Office (VIDEO)

A Norman Rockwell Painting, "The Problem We All Live With," which depicts a powerful image from the civil rights struggle, has been hung outside the oval office.

The picture shows a six-year-old girl named Ruby Bridges being escorted into a newly integrated New Orleans school. The wall behind the child is daubed with racist graffiti and a splattered tomato lies on the ground near her.

Bridges herself, now 56, personally lobbied the president to hang the painting in the White House. Bridges attended a function at the White House with the president to mark the painting's move.

She told reporters "to be standing shoulder to shoulder with history, and viewing history, it's just once in a lifetime."

Comments

[roseau]

08:53 PM on 08/28/2011

Finally.

[sdixon3171]

03:21 PM on 08/28/2011

http://globalgrind.com/news/south-africa-facebook-white-man-black-boy-Eugene-Terrorblanche-Afrikaner-Weerstandsbeweging-AWB-Photo-picture This is why that civil rights painting is so important.

[kyosaku]

11:57 AM on 08/28/2011

This article has seeded a discussion of who is or is not a racist. That is unfortunate...the knee jerk response to so much of the conflict in our society is to ascribe it to racism. Racism, and its devil, twins scapegoating and stereotyping, are alive and well in the US. This tactic is employed expertly by the corporate power brokers to keep the working class and the poor out of the exclusive company pool.

It has been used for decades, if not centuries, to keep those who have been subjugated in this country from recognizing the real source of our troubles. This is not to minimize the institutionalized racism that exists here...only to add some perspective. Often, when on the surface, a social problem is painted with the brush of racism, it is not that simple; and it continues to divide us by race and ethnicity, when we need to be united to succeed and survive.

The best way to conquer a "people" is not war. It is to make them fight with and destroy each other. This has been the hallmark of the conquest of American labor since the establishment of the American Plutocracy, even when we were "colonials." It has only one objective...to maintain an underclass of cheap labor.

[ocrmom59]

09:18 PM on 08/27/2011

We cannot even call so call adults children because childrens have more love in their hearts than the average adult. Children do not see skin color when playing with each other it is when those children grow into adulthood surround by a lot of untruths that have been handed down from generations that turned them into something unrecognizeable.

Whites have been afraid of blacks everysince they were brought here to america, they tried so hard to make them forget their names, their own languages. Refused for them to learn to read and write because they knew it would prove that all races would be entitled to the same rights as they were. Blacks for generations have proven how smart they really are by learning to read and write, right under their master watchful eye. They are still learning and it shown by electing Obama for president, that he is a president for all races and not just one race of people.

[Novinha]

06:23 PM on 08/27/2011

Lmao I'm sure some heads are exploding over this one hahaha. WTG Mr. President!

[inkongirl]

03:37 PM on 08/27/2011

I think it's great that the painting is right there where he can view it every day. And Ruby is still beautiful!

[MIVOTE]

11:28 AM on 08/27/2011

I've used this photo as my screen saver for years, and own a real nice replica..It's a beautiful painting and the only one Rockwell completed of the civil rights era.

[sdixon3171]

09:54 AM on 08/27/2011

Check this video out -- White Republicans are RACIST BIGOTS! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAzHAZhFLsw&feature=share via @youtube

[sdixon3171]

04:19 PM on 08/27/2011

Tea party dude, More Whites are on welfare and drugs than blacks. Whites are also are the biggest drug dealers and sellers of illegal firearms to minority communities.

[kyosaku]

12:29 PM on 08/28/2011

sdixon and 3day, allow me to throw down on this one.

You are engaging in an exchange of abusive stereotypes. Stereotypes are intellectual shortcuts used to classify people into groups. Stereotypes, even when based on an observed activity, are usually highly inaccurate when applied to individuals or to a group as a whole.

3day, the stereotype you describe is easily disproved, with a bit of statistical and historical research. If you look up the supporting data for validation you might be comfortable amending your stereotype.

sdixon, I have problem with your stereotype of white republicans. As a minority white (non republican) in my career, and every workplace I have been in the last 30 years, I have surmised two of the common stereotypes assigned to whites by some non-whites. We are all of the privileged class, and all are racists.

It is easy to dispel the "privileged class" stereotype. many whites are working class, poor, and come from very humble beginnings. It is much more difficult, if not impossible, to prove that I am not a racist, since I cannot create an argument or give evidence to the contrary.

To put it in perspective, stereotypes are not facts, they are beliefs. The best each of us can do is question ourselves regarding the origins of the stereotypes we hold, and make a real effort to understand and value the individuality of every human being. When we really learn about each other, the falsehoods of stereotypes fall away pretty quickly.

[awaitingmd]

11:52 PM on 08/26/2011

Okay, there are some people posting here that have so much hatred in their hearts. Debate the president on issues based on facts..but quit disrespecting him and spilling your bigot guts on this story.

[ebranson]

10:55 PM on 08/26/2011

Multiple posters in these comments have referred to President Obama as "half black". In American usage, that is a phrase with no meaning. EVERYONE in the United States, including the mainstream media, alternative media, African Americans, European Americans, and I'm sure the posters themselves refer to people with ANY physically evident African ancestry as "black." I make no claim as to whether this is good or bad, but it's a fact. Posters, I'm SURE that you don't specify the percentage of "blackness" when referring to other African Americans, though the vast majority are descended from Africans and Europeans. Why, when a "black" person finally becomes president is that the ONLY time you insist on specifying his ancestral ratio?

[antny5]

01:38 PM on 09/12/2011

"Half Black" is actually a phrase with much meaning-and as a half black half white person myself, I can assure you we care little about how mainstream media views our ethnicity! The bottom line is that like Obama, I have a WHITE MOTHER, which completely nullifies any reference to myself and Obama as being fully black! His is a biracial man and thats that!

Of course some may refer to him as black because of his skin color, which can look directly as of african complection- BUT HIS GENETICS ARE OF BOTH BLACK AND WHITE DESCENT. Who the hell cares about what media or socitey thinks. Years ago society used to view blacks as inferior- if we let society and media dictate how we view ourselves then we would never get anywhere in life. I am proud to be a black man and a white man- Im sure Obama feels the same way as a biracial and highly intelligent man!

[ebranson]

12:33 AM on 10/10/2011

I think you're missing my point. It is that (nearly) all people referred to in our society as "African American" or "Black" are bi- or multi-racial. Yet, most people don't distinguish that on a regular basis. Perhaps they should, but they don't. It's hypocritical to, on a regular basis, refer to biracial Americans as "Black" but when a biracial American is finally president to harp on the fact that he's "half white".

[dahlia3742]

08:36 PM on 08/26/2011

This is a beautiful painting that depicts a very serious heartfelt moment in our history.

[Absolute]

07:24 PM on 08/26/2011

Love it!

[UKLLee]

04:44 PM on 08/26/2011

Geez, does obama really have no shame?

What, did he have to remind black people he's half black?

[dadw5boys]

07:33 PM on 08/26/2011

Paintings go up and down every week at the White House for visitors and VIP's to enjoy and sometimes to re-enforces things like Human Rights when dealing with forgien Government Officals .

[UKLLee]

07:40 PM on 08/26/2011

This is shameless pandering.

[OliviaBolivia27]

08:40 PM on 08/26/2011

...I'm sorry, how is it "shameful" to hang a beautiful painting depicting an important time in US history inside the White House?

[glenhilda]

02:56 PM on 08/26/2011

President Obama, who was a beneficiary of private schools and affirmative action, and whose children attend Sidwell Friends, is making some sort of statement with this lovely painting. However I'm not sure what it is. He has been given many privileges and as is obvious from his $40,000 a week Martha's Vineyard rental, he lives in a totally different universe from the children depicted in Rockwell's painting. Does he really identify simply because he is half black?

[O K Ali]

07:13 PM on 08/26/2011

Did you bother to read one iota of the story?

[Absolute]

07:22 PM on 08/26/2011

Yes, he really identifies because he is black. Next question.

[Randian Roark]

02:25 PM on 08/26/2011

Anything to keep the "America is bad" narrative from this administration and vacationer-in-chief going strong.

[dadw5boys]

07:34 PM on 08/26/2011

yeah we came so far since Invading Iraq and killing 1000's of Civilans

[Randian Roark]

11:53 AM on 08/27/2011

Non-sequitur much?

[OliviaBolivia27]

08:44 PM on 08/26/2011

This isn't a painting of "America is bad." This is a painting of a brave young American girl making history; pushing America forward with every footstep.

[Randian Roark]

11:54 AM on 08/27/2011

There are lots of paintings of 'brave young' Americans out there. Why this one?