In August, San Francisco’s school board backed off its threat to destroy the controversial Life of Washington art at George Washington High School, voting instead to permanently hide the 13-panel mural from public view. That wasn’t good enough for the mural’s supporters, including the school’s alumni association, who as promised have filed suit against the board to block the mural’s removal from view.
The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco court Friday. It comes after the board backed down from a previous vote, in June, to destroy the mural because of what opponents say is racist content. They voted 4 to 3 in August to hide the mural, likely behind solid panels, instead of painting it over. Board president Stevon Cook pushed for the reversal, citing the need for the board to get back to normal business.
As with many controversies in San Francisco, the mural fight has gained national and international attention. Art historians, right-wing nationalists, and many others have seized a chance to score points. Mural opponents say they have received online threats.
Cook admitted the reversal wouldn’t please many people, and he expected to be challenged when he’s next up for election. If you want to vote someone off the board for this, he declared in August, “direct it toward me and let this board get back to work.”
Adorning the walls of the school’s entry hall, one of the mural’s panels shows African-American slaves working on Washington’s plantation. A second panel shows white settlers heading west, at Washington’s behest, and passing by a Native American lying dead on the ground. The other 11 panels are less controversial but would also be hidden if the board’s plan is carried out.
Calling the work racist and traumatizing, opponents have not been moved by arguments that the mural should be preserved as it is for its artistic and educational value. Created in the 1930s by Russian emigre Victor Arnautoff, the mural was a sharp critique, even radical for its time, according to historians, that Washington’s and America’s prosperity stemmed from the bondage and bloodshed of other humans.
Detractors counter that kids of color don’t need it to know about the enslavement and genocide of their ancestors. “Why do we need a mural to show us who George Washington was?” said one mother of an incoming Washington High ninth grader at August’s school board meeting. “We have Google for that.”
The recent fight is an echo of events 50 years ago, when the high school’s Black Student Union protested the mural. The compromise then: A young African-American artist and San Francisco native Dewey Crumpler was commissioned to paint “response” murals at the school, which still exist near the Washington mural. (Crumpler has voiced support for the Arnautoff murals, first in an exclusive Frisc interview, then in comments to the board.)
The lawsuit is no surprise. Supporters vowed to challenge the board after its August vote. They are using the California Environmental Quality Act to press their case. CEQA is often used to force lengthy review of projects to assess environmental impact and has become a major point of debate during the housing crisis.
CEQA also covers public art and other historic resources. In making its decision to remove the mural before ordering a review, the board violated the CEQA process — in effect, doing things backwards — according to the suit: “After the Board decided to remove the mural from public view it authorized its staff to proceed with environmental review under CEQA to address how best to remove it. That was too late.”
School district representatives could not be immediately reached for comment.
Alex Lash is editor in chief of The Frisc.
