The San Jose branch of the NAACP and the Muwekma Ohlone tribe want Santa Clara County to remove a 63-year-old mural in the Palo Alto Courthouse that they say denigrates Native Americans.
“The portrayal of our ancestors as scantily clad and kneeling before those religious clerics who enslaved us glosses over the reality of our existence: a reality that has been marred by systematic genocide,” Charlene Nijmeh, chair of the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, said in a statement. “The image of a ship on the horizon carries with it not just historical baggage, but represents the continuous trauma inflicted upon my people, the Muwekma Ohlone, who have been the rightful guardians of this land that stretches across San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and beyond for countless generations.”
Because the courthouse at 270 Grant Ave. is on county property, the court system cannot do anything about the mural that covers the wall between Departments 84 and 85 without county approval, according to Lisa Herrick, court assistant executive officer.
She said the court has raised its concerns to the county for several years, but the county has taken a position that the mural, painted in 1961, is an historic piece of art that cannot be painted over. Herrick said they are considering covering the display without damaging it.
The mural was painted by Mary Dill Henry in 1961 during a time when artists were commissioned to paint government and corporate buildings. In the 1930s and 40s, hundreds of controversial murals featuring Native Americans were painted on U.S. post offices during the New Deal under President Franklin Roosevelt.
“This mural is dehumanizing to all who walk the halls, especially those whose ancestors have been depicted in such a dehumanizing fashion,” said Raymond Goins, a member of the NAACP San Jose/Silicon Valley who is leading the effort to remove the mural.
The NAACP plans to meet with newly-elected Santa Clara County Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga, whose district includes the Palo Alto court branch. She told San Jose Spotlight, a news website, that she supports removing the mural.
While the county does not want the mural to be removed, it will support a concealing the mural.
If this mural has been up for 60+ years, why is it an issue now? Why didn’t this tribe and the NAACP bring it up in the 1970s or 1980s? I’m kind of suspicious. Why now?
Why can’t they bring up the issue now? It’s a mediocre mural showing natives bowing to white men. It not history worth celebrating or saving. Just paint over it already.
I’ve visited the courthouse dozens of times and I’ve never noticed the mural. I guess I’m supposed to feel outrage and anger. Not sure what the big deal is. We’re talking about a painting that has been there for six decades. At the same time, we have families in this county who are hungry, living in squalid conditions, people who can’t get medical attention and a housing shortage — all things the NAACP could focus its attention on. This seems trivial compared to the needs of the community.
The NAACP’s “business model” is well known. They start a protest against a business. The surprised business owner tries to find out why he’s been targeted. Then the NAACP leader asks for a “contribution.” Once paid, the protesters move on to another unsuspecting business.
In the case of a government agency, the NAACP will want one of their members to get a high-paying, no-show job as a payoff. With Rick Callender out at Valley Water, the NAACP will want to get a position like that for one of their leaders. All the County has to do is create a high-paying job that has no responsibilities and then conduct a sham job search with the result being one candidate — the NAACP leader. The public will never hear about it, and there will be no paper trail to show this job was created to pay off the NAACP.
The politically-driven historical revisionists are at it again.