Fullerton's Mural-Destroying Past
Got an op-ed piece in today's Los Angeles Times regarding a ridiculous proposal by pendejo Fullerton Councilmember Shawn Nelson to rid the city of the Chicano-themed murals decorating the Lemon Street overpass just south of Valencia because he thinks that'll stop crime. Faithful readers will recognize that covering the county's Chicano murals is a mini-beat of mine. But one of you pointed out to me that eliminating murals is a Fullerton passion regardless of ethnicity.
In the hallways of Fullerton Union High School's Plummer Auditorium stands "Pastoral California" (shown at left), a magnificent mural commissioned by the Works Progress Administration during the 1930s depicting Mexican laborers and the county's Californio pioneers. It was whitewashed in 1939 after school trustees deemed it "vulgar," although local historians don't know what was so offensive about the images depicted. My tipster, on the other hand, is smarter than that: "It was waaayyy too 'ethnic' for the image the then city fathers wanted to portray. After all, it could hardly be appropriate to celebrate -even a romanticized vision of early California, if the descendants of the subjects portrayed were not allowed to attend the school on which the fresco adorned now would it?"
Everyone: email Shawn Nelson at his work email, snelson@rizioandnelson.com, and tell him what an idiot he is and to leave the Lemon Street overpass murals alone. (I'd usually put a councilmember's city email address, but Fullerton has a general one for all councilmembers so fuck it)
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