Pledge of Allegiance Off MOCA Mural Controversial Little Tokyo Art Work to Be Changed

A controversy over inclusion of the Pledge of Allegiance in a huge mural on the wall of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s (MOCA) Temporary Contemporary in Little Tokyo has been resolved--but the settlement includes complete elimination of the wording of the pledge.

The unusual resolution, disclosed Friday morning, neutralizes objections by some Little Tokyo residents, who complained that being forced to scrutinize the Pledge of Allegiance in a form 29 feet high and 218 feet wide would be a slap at Japanese-Americans who endured the internment camps of World War II.

But Ann Goldstein, a MOCA assistant curator who has coordinated the project, insisted the decision to drop the pledge from the mural “is not a compromise.”

Goldstein said that, because the revised mural proposal is a variance from a version originally approved by the city Cultural Affairs Commission, the new, pledge-less design must be presented again to the city agency. Commission approval is necessary because the building housing the Temporary Contemporary is city property.

The mural is to be executed by New York artist Barbara Kruger, who flew to Los Angeles for a Thursday night meeting with the Little Tokyo Community Development Advisory Committee, members of which had first objected to the subject matter. Kruger was not available for comment Friday morning.

As originally proposed by Kruger, the mural would have been red, white and blue with the wording of the Pledge of Allegiance surrounded by such questions as “Who is bought and sold?” “Who is beyond the law?” and “Who does time?” Instead of being red, white and blue, the new version of the mural will be red on the white background of the existing Temporary Contemporary exterior wall.

Responding to initial community concerns at a meeting last month, Kruger proposed to enlarge the questions and make the pledge wording significantly smaller, but to retain the flag-like color combination. At Thursday’s meeting, Kruger proposed elimination of the wording of the pledge completely in a major change of the nature of the work.

“This is a process that is not an unusual process for this artist,” Goldstein said. “She presented proposals to the community. She feels this is part of a collaborative effort. Sensitivities that were indicated to her about the Pledge of Allegiance she took very seriously.”