Vandals Deface Barely Dry Mural of Escondido’s Past

Vandals defaced a just-completed Escondido mural Wednesday night, marring one-quarter of the painting in what backers are calling a racially motivated incident.

Two 5-gallon containers of white primer paint were splashed onto the mural, which depicts the history of Escondido and had been opposed by some residents for what they felt was a Latino overtone that would attract gang activity.

“It’s clear that whoever did it intentionally directed the paint toward the Native American people depicted in the mural,” said Nicole Brown of the Felicita Foundation, the sponsoring organization behind the painting.

The mural, completed Wednesday by local high school students and noted San Diego muralists Salvador and Gloria Torres, had been in the works since April. It cost $8,400 and took more than 1,300 hours of volunteer work to construct.

The mural decorates three walls of the North Inland Neighborhood Recovery Center, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center on Ash Street.

Despite the incident, the dedication of the mural went on as planned Thursday night, Brown said.

“I see it as a racially motivated act, by people who view the mural as a statement that’s purely Hispanic-oriented, which the mural is not,” said Barbara Waters, director of the Felicita Foundation. “It’s community oriented and shows cultural diversity.”

The mural depicts aspects of the history of Escondido and includes representations of American Indians, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Latinos and Anglos.

The mural also shows landscapes, scenes from the Wild Animal Park, and technological advances as well as two hands, one light-skinned and one dark-skinned, clasped together.

“The neighbors didn’t like it being there,” said Aaron Bouchard, a junior in high school who worked on the project from its inception. “They figured that it would bring a bad element to the neighborhood just because it had basically a Hispanic base.”

Salvador Torres, who was one of the original painters of the well-known muralists in San Diego’s Chicano Park and who has been active in community mural painting for more than two decades, said the newness of public art to Escondido led to misunderstandings by some residents and brought expected criticism of the mural.

“All of this is part of Escondido’s development, and of course the native population is one of the most important of all, and that’s why in the center of the ethnic group figure is the Native American,” Torres said.

Brown said it will take at least 50 hours and $1,000 to restore the mural.