The latest victim of the Trump Administration’s vendetta against speech it doesn’t like is a crosswalk in Lubbock, Texas. If you are confused by this, let me explain.
In July, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a nationwide roadway safety initiative. In a letter delivered to every governor, Duffy said this: “Roads are for safety, not political messages or artwork. Today I am calling on governors in every state to ensure that roadways, intersections, and crosswalks are kept free of distractions,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “Far too many Americans die each year to traffic fatalities to take our eye off the ball. USDOT stands ready to help communities across the country make their roads safer and easier to navigate.”
According to the New York Times, this has led to the jackhammering of a road mural in Washington, D.C. honoring the Black Lives Matter movement, the removal of a road mural in Laredo, Texas, that criticized President Trump’s border wall, and the painting over of a rainbow crosswalk in Florida hat memorialized the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, which left 49 dead. Anyone see a trend here?
But Secretary Duffy’s mission to make pedestrians safe again has now resulted in Lubbock, Texas announcing that it intends to remove a set of crosswalks honoring the legendary Buddy Holly. Oh Boy. For younger readers, Buddy Holly was an early rock pioneer. He was part of the inaugural class of inductees in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He influenced the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. In his early days, Elvis Costello adopted his look, which featured large glasses and a sports coat and tie
The Lubbock crosswalks featured paintings of those iconic glasses inside the lines. But those glasses may not be there every day for long, as much as Holly fans prefer that they not fade away. To comply with Duffy’s directive, Lubbock is planning to remove the artwork. According, to Lubbock Mayor Mark McBrayer, “I don’t really feel like we have the wherewithal to do anything about that without trying to litigate it.” Lubbock may also lose highway funding if it refuses to remove the glasses.
Duffy’s directive seems like a pretext to me. Put simply, a pretext is a CYA move to justify an otherwise improper act. It happens in employment law frequently. Older employees are occasionally fired for some trumped up reason, when the real reason is their age. Here, it appears Duffy wants to get rid of political messages he doesn’t like, but his pretext is “highway safety.” This tactic begs several questions.
Anecdotally, have any readers been so distracted by a painted crosswalk that it affects their driving? Is a painted crosswalk more distracting than a highway billboard? Does Duffy have any statistics to back up the case that crosswalk murals need to be eliminated? Does Duffy’s directive address texting while driving? Maybe baby, but I doubt it.
It’s bad enough that Duffy is trying to pull this pretext off in the first place. But what’s even worse is when the need to keep the pretext going results in the destruction of artwork that everyone loves. Maybe Duffy thinks it’s so easy to fool people, and that eventually people will conclude it doesn’t matter anymore. But he’s wrong. I suggest he think it over. But realistically, that’ll be the day.
Jack Greiner is a partner at Faruki PLL law firm in Cincinnati. He represents Enquirer Media in First Amendment and media issues.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The day the Buddy Holly crosswalk mural died | Strictly Legal
Reporting by Jack Greiner, Special to The Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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