An Arizona elementary school is under fire for asking painters of a mural, located front of the school, to lighten the faces of children depicted. R.E. Wall, director of the Prescott Elementary School's Downturn Mural Project, said that he and other artists faced racial slurs from passing drivers as they painted the mural. "We consistently, for two months, had people shouting racial slander from their cars," Wall said. "We had children painting with us, and here come these yells of ni**** and sp**.

The kids being depicted on the mural go to a school that is "a K-5 school with 380 students and the highest ethnic mix of any school in Prescott." According to Wall, thousands of residents in the town donated to have the mural painted.

Steve Blair, a city councilman, has used his radio show to attack the mural and demand that it be destroyed. This adds to another incident, in which a prominent state legislator in Arizona was found to follow a member of the Ku Klux Klan on Twitter. Not a good look for Arizona.

On the face of it, this story is quite disturbing and continues a trend of problematic behavior on the part of the residents of Arizona, who are gaining a bad reputation for a long list of racist temper tantrums. The recent immigration law was the strongest show of force by Arizona residents and has led to the city of Los Angeles refusing to do business with any corporation that is based in the state. Additionally, Arizona is remembered as the state that refused to acknowledge the Martin Luther King national holiday, and the one that hosts a sheriff, Joe Arpaio, who is accused of violating the civil rights of black and brown inmates on a regular basis.

It's clear that Arizona has a problem with racism.

What might also be true, however, is that we are looking for racism around every corner when it comes to the state of Arizona. I highly doubt that every Arizona legislator is racist, or that a good ol' fashioned hatred of black and brown people drives every inch of their behavior. If it is the case that the mural features black and brown children at the exclusion of whites, then I can understand the backlash of local residents. At the very least, we should hear their explanations before labeling them with the "R" word.

I must make it clear, however, that Arizonans would be wise to ensure that they are working to implement sound immigration policy without turning their politics into a war against brown people. Those who fight against progress are going to ultimately lose that battle. Stopping drug cartels and illegal immigration can be done without the use of racial profiling or Nazi-regime tactics that undermine the liberties of fellow Americans. All the while, the federal government must help the state control illegal immigration, which it has certainly failed to do.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the new book 'Black American Money.' To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.