Face of Nation : A California school board has voted on the fate of an expansive mural dedicated to the life of George Washington: It’s demeaning, destroy it.
Hundreds of educators from the Golden State and beyond are urging them to change their mind.
Stretching 1,600-square feet, the 83-year-old mural at a public high school shows white colonists stepping over a dead Native American and slaves laboring at Washington’s Mount Vernon estate. The artwork is suddenly a flash point as national debates continue on reparations and controversial names — even in mostly liberal California.
In voting unanimously on June 25 to paint over the 13-panel mural, the San Francisco Board of Education sided with students who say the depictions of slaves and Native Americans are degrading. But more than 500 academics have signed an open letterasking the district to reconsider, and they liken destroying the artwork to censoring ugly realities.
