American Nocturne' more powerful without victims

It took ten years, but David Powers' 'American Nocturne' is finally serving its artistic purpose. His mural, depicting just the crowd at a double lynching of two blacks in 1930 Marion, IN, spent a decade in an outdoor Elgin plaza before a curious resident compared it to the famous photo of that lynching, and determined the photo inspired the mural which was commissioned to comment on the subject of race in a 2004 Elgin Cultural Arts Commission mural project. Once the historical connection was made, several black residents began calling for its removal, claiming it shows disrespect by not including the victims. Elgin mayor David Kaptain has wisely called for public meetings to discuss the issue instead of a knee jerk removal of the mural. Had artist Powers simply regurgitated the iconic photo, it likely would have been too shocking and controversial to see the light of public display. His omission garnered its display allowing us to finally ponder its import a decade later. Absence of the victims generates powerful personal thoughts. To me it represents that blacks in 1930 were largely not regarded as fellow members of the human race to the white community, making their grotesque killing possible. I hope the public forum will conclude 'American Nocturne' transcends the offence to a few and disregard calls for its removal.