35 YEARS of Publication 1976-2011 1976 2010 Vol. XXXI XXXVII No. 27 La Prensa Muñoz, Inc., Publications JULY 8, 2011 Through Our Blood: Historic Restoration of Chicano Park the community struggle that Victor Ochoa calls the “Chicano democratic Murals Begins dynamic,” the collective process that has guided the preservation and now restoration of the park in spite of in- Part I Schnorr—put paint to concrete and evitable conflicts. As Felipe Adame began the most ambitious restoration asserts, “In the 1970’s, we were giv- By Gail Pérez project in the park’s history. After ing life to the culture. We were mak- eleven years of wading through bu- ing a link between past and present. In 1970 when the Chicano com- reaucratic red tape, a $1.6 million It was a cultural renaissance.” The munity took over the land under the federal grant, approved in 2002, has presence of these original artists in- Coronado Bridge and demanded that finally been implemented with the volves not only a new coat of paint, a long-promised park finally be con- cooperation of the Chicano Park but also a deeper understanding of the structed in the Logan Heights neigh- Steering Committee. ongoing need to preserve the com- borhood, park activist José Gómez an- Guillermo Rosette, restoring the munity, understand our history, and Chicano Park Mural Restoration artists include (standing left to right) nounced to the world that anyone at- Chicano Park Takeover mural, de- maintain our culture. Those who visit Guillermo Rosette, Norma Montoya, Victor Ochoa, and (seated) Felipe tempting to take the land from the fines this moment’s importance: “In the park during the yearlong restora- Adame. Not shown, Michael Schnorr. Photo by David Avalos. community would have to “wade history, we are the first artists to re- tion period will have a remarkable through our blood.” store our own murals.” Rosette chance to learn from these artists/ the residents to preserve their com- endures in the current project. The On any given day in Chicano Park, worked on the very first murals in activists. munity: many of the murals depict all-volunteer Chicano Park Steering his words sound far away. The park 1973, and he brings the memory of The long story of this Federal these conflicts, but also mirror the Committee (CPSC, founded in 1970) is mostly quiet—a flock of elemen- that time to restore not only the vivid Transportation Enhancement Activi- beauty of a Chicano neighborhood is a partner with Caltrans and the tary students following their teacher orange sky of the mural but also its ties grant, should be viewed as the now most vivid in the minds of the Parks and Recreation Department, to playground swings, so-called significance and energy. Unlike other latest chapter in the struggle for a elders. City of San Diego. The CPSC in- homeless folks relaxing on benches, important mural projects in Mexico working partnership between com- The story of Barrio Logan is a fa- sured the protection of the murals and José Mendoza tending the re- during the Revolution and in the US munity and city and state authorities miliar one to hundreds of inner city during the Caltrans earthquake ret- markable stand of roses at the base during the New Deal, Chicano Park that began as early as the re-zoning neighborhoods nationwide that have rofitting project in 1996 and has de- of La Virgen de las Americas mu- muralism is grassroots; yet it has be- of Logan Heights for “light industry” suffered urban renewal and now fended the park from the agency’s ral. Many of the most historic murals come one of the most important sites and junkyards in the 1950’s. gentrification. Barrio Logan has with- attempted censorship of the word from 1973-1975 like Women Hold Up in the world. The people power that During the Golden Days of Logan stood the rezoning in the 1950’s that “Aztlan” in 2003. Prodded both by Half of Heaven are fading and dam- Rosette’s mural memorializes—the in the 1940’s, 20,000 residents en- brought in often-toxic industries, the community outrage and by the advo- aged. But on June 20, 2011 five of community’s direct action to take the joyed a vibrant and self-sufficient construction of Interstate 5 in 1963, cacy of Martin Rosen and James the original artists—Felipe Adame, land—is the same spirit responsible neighborhood. This memory, contrary and the construction of the Coronado Fisher within Caltrans, the agency Victor Ochoa, Norma Montoya, for the artwork. to the usual negative stereotypes of Bridge that displaced at least 1500 devised a method of retrofitting the Guillermo Rosette, and Michael The murals are inseparable from ethnic barrios or “ghettos,” has driven families. After the twelve-day take- pylons with minimal damage to the over of the land that is now Chicano murals. Both workers and residents, Park, residents like artist Salvador however, commented on the deterio- Torres conceived of converting the ration of older murals. massive gray pylons of the bridge into In 1999 Rosen and the CPSC ap- an “outdoor museum.” plied for the current grant that was Since that time, three phases of approved in 2002. It faced many bu- mural painting have made the park reaucratic road blocks, including the one of the most important mural sites need to publish a Chicano Park in the state. The first phase in 1973 Mural Restoration Technical produced murals such as Quetzal- Manual, completed in 2006 by Sal- coatl, located on Logan Avenue. The vador Barajas and Victor Ochoa. Fi- second phase, from 1974-75, involved nally in 2008 after being stalled in artists from all over California, espe- Sacramento committees, Ricardo cially Sacramento and Los Angeles, Duffy, Roberto Delgado, and the including Norma Montoya now re- Ghirardelli Corporation applied as a storing Los Niños del Mundo. Ten team to manage the project. As of the twenty murals slated for res- project manager Duffy says, “It was toration are from these first two his- the first time Caltrans had ever done toric phases. The third phase from anything like this. It never happens. 1977-1980 included the “muralathon” To push this through the bureaucracy organized by artist Victor Ochoa and is an accomplishment in itself.” the work of other artists. Four of the CPSC Chair Tommie Camarillo murals currently being restored in this credits Caltrans’ advocates like first rotation of artists are from this Rosen and Laurie Berman, and ex- phase. plains her community organization’s Guillermo Rosette up in the air painting the sky on fire for the Chicano Park Take-over mural The unprecedented community in- restoration. Photo by David Avalos. volvement that created Chicano Park (see Chicano Park, page 2) California Minority Groups Offer “Unity” Redistricting Map By Nadra Kareem Nittle can Americans in Los Angeles Act requires … where NEW AMERICA MEDIA County, Coachella Valley, and San there is racially polarized Jose. voting.” LOS ANGELES—Alarmed at the way The civil rights groups are hoping Racially polarized vot- the new California Citizens Redistrict- that that the redistricting commission ing occurs in areas where ing Commission (CCRC) has done its will incorporate some of the “unity” candidates preferred by work so far and worried that the re- ideas and boundaries in its second minority voters consis- sulting electoral maps could have dire round of maps, due out July14. tently do not get support consequences for communities of from non-minority voters, color over the next 10 years, civil New and Challenging Process Lee explains. Splitting mi- rights groups have taken matters into California’s redistricting process is nority voters into different their own hands. brand-new this year, the result of districts in such areas all Three organizations—the Mexican voter-approved ballot measures in but guarantees they won’t American Legal Defense and Edu- 2008 and 2010. Instead of allowing elect their preferred can- cational Fund (MALDEF), the Coa- politicians and power brokers to draw didates. That’s why the Vot- lition of Asian Pacific Americans for their own political districts, the new ing Rights Act of 1965 has gen- Fair Redistricting (CAPAFR) and the process turns control over to 14 ordi- erally required the drawing of African-American Redistricting Col- nary citizens. “majority-minority” districts—in laborative (AARC)—have teamed Like many of the state’s other which ethnic and racial minorities up to draft their own “unity” redis- grand democratic experiments, redis- make up the majority of voters—in nated by Tea Party activists who ar- MALDEF’s national redistricting co- tricting maps, unveiled last week. tricting reform has created its own racially polarized regions. gued—loudly—that the panel should ordinator. Some called the commis- (Click here to view.) set of challenges. Those issues be- not take race into account when draw- sion plan “a worst-case scenario” for The unity maps—which include came clear when the commission re- Community Input Prevailed ing political districts. Latinos. recommendations for 80 Assembly leased its first set of proposed maps When the state’s redistricting com- Although California’s Latino popu- By contrast, the unity plan would districts across the state as well as on June 10. mission released its first maps, how- lation grew by 3 million over the last establish Latino voting districts in 24 state Senate districts in Southern “The commission seems to have ever, “it was clear they weighed com- decade, accounting for 90 percent of Imperial County and the Coachella California—are drawn in a way that been struggling with how to best munity input heavily but did not take the state’s population growth in the Valley as well as parts of Orange would keep communities of color in- draw districts with regards to the the Voting Rights Act into consider- 2010 Census, the commission’s first- County and East San Jose.