The original impetus to do this was prompted after an unsettling event. I was casually invited over to this kids house who I rode the bus with in junior high. He said he had cool stuff to show me. "Cool stuff" referred not only to his giant t.v. complete with porn channels, but specifically to all of their guns. For instance, (but not limited to, no!) he had a Mac 10 under his bed. He must've been 13. And his good ol' dad slept with a cocked and loaded .45 under his pillow and a sawed-off shotgun under his bed, apparently, according to his delightful son, really wishing someone would break in so he could blow them away in his pj's. And then, when I was leaving (in a hurry) and I didn't think it could get any worse, he insistently handed me a piece of paper from a large stack of copies atop the kitchen counter. "You should fill this out!" It was a real (no pun intended) Ku Klux Klan application. I couldn't believe it. I said I was definitely not interested, at all...at all.
The next week I happened to acquire the Thiebaud board. I would dangle it in KKK jr.'s face every time I saw him on the bus with a big grin on my face. Empty threats ensued. Looking back, of course this (graphic, and pushing it) is not the right philosophy. (I did not plan this post for MLK Day...he would be rolling in his grave.) Evil begets evil. But it sure is fun to rile up the wicked...
Thiebaud doesn't get enough credit for how innovative and stylish he was. First kickflip front board and 10 foot high frontside wallrides. And what other skater can you name who has published books of poetry??
And...Banksy seemed to have (inadvertent yet oddly similar...who knows?) made this homage to the infamous graphic in his southern U.S. escapades not long ago. He dropped into Birmingham and threw up some bangers. My favorite artist (cliche or not), period.
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