Vandalism Probed as Hate Crime

Police are investigating as a possible hate crime the defacing of five outdoor murals painted on steel and concrete pillars at Chicano Park in the Barrio Logan neighborhood here, officials said Tuesday.

The brightly colored murals of heroic, larger-than-life figures depict the history of Chicanos in the southwestern United States, as well as important people in Mexican, Chicano and Latin American history.

Although vandalism and graffiti are common in public places here, the spray-paint attack on the five murals, which was discovered Monday, marks the first time that the artwork of Chicano Park has been marred in its 30-year history.

“Chicano Park has always been a kind of sacred ground: no gang graffiti, no tagging graffiti,” said police Sgt. Joe Woods, who is leading the investigation. “This is definitely a first.”

One mural was spray-painted with the words “Down With Mexico” in Spanish. On the others the phrase “Viva la Miga” was painted, probably a misspelling of the word “migra,” a slang term for the Border Patrol. One mural had a four-letter expletive in English.

“This is an outrageous act and has offended my community greatly,” said artist Salvador Torres, who painted some of the murals and is known as the “grandfather of Chicano Park.”

The park--beneath an elevated portion of Interstate 5 leading to the Coronado Bay Bridge--was born of the Chicano political activism that arose in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.

The site had been scheduled to be a California Highway Patrol facility but protesters, angry at the prospect of losing control of the land, blocked bulldozers in April 1970. That protest is often celebrated in Chicano history as a landmark event in a movement that emphasized radical politics and cultural pride.

Faced with the protest, the CHP and San Diego City Council backed down and allowed the area--wedged between homes and an industrial zone--to become an urban park, with murals and a lawn.

There are now more than 55 murals on the concrete and steel pillars of the overhead freeway done by more than two dozen artists, including several schoolchildren.

Two weeks ago, thousands of people flocked to the park for an all-day party to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the 1970 protest and its slogan “Reclaiming What’s Ours.”

Richard Griswold del Castillo, chairman of the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at San Diego State, said that Chicano Park has the largest outdoor collection of Latino/Chicano murals in the United States and that the murals are central to the park’s historic and cultural significance.

“Chicano Park is a place of celebration, of cultural renewal, spiritual rededication and political protest,” he said. “I am in shock and disbelief that someone would do this. I’m ashamed for San Diego.”

Students in literature, anthropology and Chicano studies classes regularly visit Chicano Park to study the murals and ponder their importance.

On Tuesday, for example, a literature class from San Diego City College was at the park studying the murals. “This is ruthless, absolutely terrible,” said English professor Elva Salinas. “It’s the kind of hurtful thing that white supremacists might do.”

Salinas’ students shared her outrage. “Everybody should be able to show their culture without other people messing it up,” said Jeanna Balestrieri, 20, a sophomore. “This is just wrong.”

Ruben Moreno, the city Park and Recreation Department supervisor for Chicano Park, said he was surprised that anyone would dare deface the murals, given the protective feeling in the surrounding neighborhood.

“If anyone had seen them do it, you can bet they would have stopped them,” he said. “It’s not a smart idea to hurt the murals when anybody is around.”

Raymond Uzeta, president of the Chicano Federation of San Diego County, said he is pleased the Police Department is treating the vandalism as a possible hate crime, which could lead to tougher penalties for the culprits.

“I hope they’re caught and prosecuted,” he said. “We cannot tolerate people coming into a neighborhood and destroying public art that has brought so much pride.”