This archive report was first published on 30 June 2019.
On June 25, 2019, the San Francisco school board made a unanimous decision to paint over a series of murals depicting George Washington and other historical figures at a local high school. The murals, created by Victor Arnautoff in 1936, have been at the center of a heated debate over the past year.
The decision was met with criticism from many, including Lope Yap Jr., a filmmaker and vice president of the alumni association, who stated, “In my entire life, no one has ever, ever accused me of being a ‘white supremacist,’” but was accused of being one by board commissioner Alison Collins due to his support for preserving the murals.
Commissioner Faauuga Moliga argued that the murals should be painted over because they may be hurtful to students from marginalized communities. Mark Sanchez, the school board’s vice president, stated that destroying the murals was necessary to provide reparations to students who have been historically marginalized.
However, many students disagreed with the decision. Of 49 freshmen asked to write about the murals, only four supported their removal. John M. Strain, an English teacher, noted that his students “feel bad about offending people but they almost universally don’t think the answer is to erase it.”
