Removal of Oakland mural depicting Ohlone people paused for community feedback
A mural that has captured the attention of people in Oakland for nearly two decades could be painted over after complaints about the artwork.
It's located on the corner of 41st Street and Piedmont Avenue. It depicts Ohlone Native Americans interacting with Spanish missionaries, but property managers say they received complaints about the nudity in the image.
Neighbors like Andrea Hackl don't see the problem.
"It doesn't speak of Oakland's values to destroy art," Hackl stated.
Hackl has been walking her dog past this mural nearly every day for the last three years. Each time, she stops to take it in.
"For me, it means Native Americans being robbed of their land, and there's already a plan in place of what's going to happen to the land, no matter what anyone thinks, but those parts especially, they get me every time," said Hackl about her interpretation of the mural.
She was disappointed and a little disturbed to hear it would be painted over. Hackl is originally from Austria, so she didn't grow up learning about California history, but she's learning now.
"For me, it's been an amazing educational tool as well," said Hackl. "You don't just look at amazing art, but it tells a story. It tells a really important aspect of history."
The mural is titled "The Capture of the Solid, the Escape of the Soul." The work, painted by Rocky Rische-Baird, depicts the Ohlone tribe being given smallpox-infested clothing and blankets by the Spanish missionaries. A green, diseased man shows the death and destruction it caused. It also has many other images within it.
Wolf Clifton lives in a different neighborhood of Oakland. When he heard about the removal of the mural, he knew he needed to come see it himself.
"The level of detail, and the surrealism of much of it," Clifton observed. "The gas pump with the snake head. It's impressive."
After seeing it, he doesn't understand why someone would be offended by the small amount of nudity.
"It's so prudish, frankly, and I have to wonder does it have more to do with it being an honest portrayal of colonialism and the destruction that it brought on the indigenous people of the area," Clifton questions. "Is that really what's going on?
Resident of the building, Julie, received the email from SG Real Estate Co. that they will be painting over the mural because they've received complaints that the naked native man is distasteful.
"They were going to paint it over because so many people have complained about it," said Julie. "Which is not true! I know of one person."
She said she's fighting to keep it.
"I've been at it all day," Julie explained. "Actually, for many days, and I've had lots and lots of emails. I don't want anything to happen to this."
The people CBS News Bay Area met and spoke with all said they support the mural, and dozens of people came by to look at it and take pictures. Hackl believes removing the mural will set a bad precedent.
"We don't want to paint over art that tells such an important part of history, that makes people think and makes people reflect," said Hackl. "That's just a sign of society going backwards, and that is never a sign of a health society."
CBS News Bay Area reached out to SG Real Estate and Co. but did not hear back at the time of this report.
However, SG Real Estate and Co. did send a statement the day after the story aired.
"Thank you for writing to us. We appreciate all respectful and informed messages that we've received about this sensitive matter. For context, the reason for the proposed change were concerns voiced by members of the native American community, who have indicated to us that the mural is, in their own stated opinions and/or interpretation, offensive in the way that the native Americans are visually depicted. So, our aim was simply to ensure that a building we have responsibility for managing was not home to any artwork that could be reasonably deemed to be hurtful to any group.
However, at this point, the plan to remove it is hereby being paused indefinitely while we continue to listen to individuals who have contacted us in support of the mural's continued presence and are working to facilitate more dialog. We aim only to be a supportive and caring member of the diverse community in which our small business resides and are simply doing our best to be conscientious."