Disney's "Fantasia" - Original Uncut Edition

We support the release of Walt Disney's 1940 Classic "Fantasia" on Blu Ray & DVD with the "black centaurette" scenes.

Almost everyone Disney buff and film collector, and only a small percentage of them has signed this petition, has the opinion that your Company , with the new edition of FANTASIA in Blu-Ray Disc and DVD, that we know will be distributed on December 2010, should absolutely give the public the complete and original masterpiece with no one of the censorships that occurred in the previous DVD edition, distributed in 2000, censorships that were caused by the fear of the accuse of racism from colored people and from Afro-American communities in the USA. The censored scenes, as you will know, took place in the Pastoral episode . In these scenes people could see a black centaurette that was a sort of chambermaid of the others centaurettes (even they were of all sort of color!) helping them in polishing the heels and decorate hair and tails with flowers. This character was obviously a caricature of the black housemaids so common in the American homes at the time Fantasia was released (1940).
This character, that in the previous video versions was censored magnifying the frame or deleting it digitally from the frame itself, in effect was representative of a type often used in the movies at that time: we could only remember Mammy in Gone with the wind.
We absolutely stick to the opinion that having censored the scenes also in the last DVD edition is a terrible disfigurement of this Masterpiece and that this action is a clear contradiction of the real Walt Disney will and also is offensive to his legacy.
Keeping in censoring these scenes also in the new high definition master will indicate clearly that, after so many years, we are still not able to read, understand and accept the History with her lights and shadows and the evolution of morals, in a serene and objective way, all this leading to ruin a milestone of your Company in one of his best loved scenes.
The disappointment that came out within our forum and out of it when Fantasia was first published in DVD in 2000, today wants to become a positive dialogue, trying to prevent you to make a serious mistake that would be a sort of violence on such an important title.
The Disney Company, through the years has been not only an entertainment resource but also a great source of culture, especially culture of values, and among these the authenticity.
Should this authenticity be lost, and authenticity should have been always a trademark of your work, you will have another precedent that could let to a disaffection for many of us towards your products and the name Disney:
We also firmly believe that Roy Disney , passed away recently, would have approved and supported in total our request also in respect of the legacy of his uncle Walt.
We would suggest, to avoid this censorship, that you put an introduction at the beginning of the movie, explaining the historical contest in which the sequence was created, pointing out the nature absolutely not discriminating or offensive from a racial point of view of the scene, or, if this should not be possible, that, using digital technologies, you would change the color of the black centaurette. In loving memory of the late Roy Edward Disney we think that is right to pay homage to his faith to the true Disney tradition making a truly original uncut edition of Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. The fans and buyers of these two pictures would be very happy.