SCA’s John Wayne exhibit must be removed

On Oct. 2, the School of Cinematic Arts announced that it would consider the removal of a controversial exhibit honoring John Wayne. The announcement came after student protests referred to Wayne as a racist and white supremacist. The protest has gained much media coverage, even getting a headline from conservative media outlet Breitbart News. 

A look into Wayne’s past reveals that he said these very same things about himself, and he has expressed racist, xenophobic and homophobic remarks in numerous interviews. This, coupled with his films’ promotion of the exploitation and murder of Native Americans, makes him undeserving of glorification inside SCA. Instead of promoting Wayne, SCA should use the space to promote the work of prominent filmmakers of color that have graduated from the University.

A Washington Post article from February unearthed an interview with Playboy from 1971 in which Wayne said, “I believe in white supremacy … We can’t all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks.” 

Later in the interview, Wayne referred to characters in the Academy Award Best Picture-winning film “Midnight Cowboy” with homophobic slurs and said white Americans were justified in taking land from Native Americans. It’s easy to see why protestors would want an exhibit extolling the work of this man removed, especially if they belong to any of the groups that Wayne railed against.

Even when Wayne was alive, actors and protestors were aware of Wayne’s treatment of Native Americans and other underrepresented groups. One of the organizers of USC’s protest, Eric Plant shared a video on Instagram of Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather, who appeared onstage to formally decline Marlon Brando’s Academy Award as a protest against the treatment of Native Americans in film and America at large. 

An article from The Wrap details that, following her speech, Wayne came backstage to forcibly remove her from the venue. She said that “he had to be restrained by six security men.” Not only did Wayne treat Native Americans poorly in his films, but he was also violently opposed to them crusading for their rights. The University should not be endorsing the legacy of a man who threatened physical violence against a woman crusading for her people’s civil rights.

USC students are not the first to wish Wayne’s name removed from an institution. 

In the past year, numerous op-eds, including one in the Los Angeles Times, called for Wayne’s name to be removed from the Orange County airport, citing numerous examples of his bigotry in Playboy. The article even elicited a response from Wayne’s son in the Orange County Register, claiming that his father was not racist or homophobic, even when faced with such an interview. Since February, no official action has been taken by Orange County to change the name, but this shows how Wayne’s past actions are finally catching up to his legacy.

Even if the exhibit were altered to acknowledge the racist and bigoted parts of Wayne’s past, it would be hard to fully account for his actions. It would be hard for passing observers to fully grasp the full history of Wayne when just walking by, instead seeing an exhibit in SCA glorifying him. It is impossible to expect people to stop and fully take in all the information. Right now, leaving the exhibit up, even in an altered state, would do more to glorify Wayne than it would to educate the public about him.

Instead of keeping the John Wayne exhibit open, SCA and USC should use the space to honor filmmakers of color. 

Shonda Rhimes, showrunner of numerous award-winning shows like “How to Get Away with Murder” and “Grey’s Anatomy”  and Nahnatchka Khan, creator of “Fresh Off the Boat,” are both women of color who attended SCA and are certainly worthy of exhibition. 

These women have dedicated their careers to advancing representations of people of color on screen, and they should certainly be honored over a self-admitted white supremacist. 

The University owes it to its students of color to not glorify a man who has made such hateful and bigoted remarks in the past.