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Main Street’s Social Equity Murals Have a New Look

Park City Summit County Arts Council

 After last week's vandilization of the murals painted on Main Street over the Fourth of July holiday, the artists who painted them returned to repair their art and share a new message with the residents of Park City.

Aljay Fuimaono and members of the Roots Art Collective returned to Park City’s Main Street on Sunday to repaint the vandalized portions of their murals. The artists also hoped to continue the dialogue that started when the social equity murals were first painted over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Fuimaono’s “Black Lives Matter” mural bore the brunt of the vandalization with “Black” and the clenched fist in “Lives” both covered in gray paint. 

 

Instead of merely repainting “Black,” Fuimaono used many words to spread a new message on Sunday. He explained where he is coming from as a person of color in Utah and why the statement “Black Lives Matter” is important to him. He chose to print his message over a renewed “Black” portion of the mural and replaced the fist with two hands -- one black, one white -- embracing each other.

 

Fuimaono is Polynesian and explained at last Friday’s public roundtable discussion why hearing that message is important, especially here in Utah. Fuimaono cited the mistreatment of Polynesian immigrants to Utah in the 1800s as an example of the state’s past issues with racism, issues he says he and his family still live with today.

 

“You know, it still lingers," he explained. "We experience it every day in different types and forms but it’s a tough one, man. You know, I get judged all the time by the way I look. I’m a big dude, I don’t know if it’s just because people are scared of me or what but because of the color of my skin, there’s a lot of assumptions and things like that that happen on a daily basis and my kids go through it too, which is crazy. I definitely know that there is a problem here in Utah.”

 

Credit Park City Summit County Arts Council
The "Peace, Unity, Love" mural was also repainted.

  The “Peace, Unity, Love” mural by the Roots Art Collective was also repaired.

 

The murals have sparked an intense dialogue about more than just social equity in Park City. Many people wondered whether the murals were appropriate given the city government’s involvement. The murals were a joint project between the Park City Summit County Arts Council and Park City Municipal.

 

In a prepared statement read at last Thursday’s city council meeting, Councilwoman Nann Worel made it clear she was in full support of the city’s efforts towards social equity but was worried the project was rushed without proper input from the community and local businesses.

 

“We’re fortunate to serve in a community where we have really engaged citizens and that hold us accountable for our actions," Worel said. "They expect and deserve transparency from Park City Municipal Corporation and I believe the citizens were let down. Our council was not given an opportunity to even discuss the idea of the murals among ourselves, nor were the taxpayers of Park City. Our long-time valued partners on Main Street, the Main Street merchants, were not only not consulted, but they weren’t even notified it was about to happen. The city’s long history of engaging residents didn’t happen and for that, I am really sorry.”

 

An email was sent out on Friday by the city that did notify business owners of Sunday’s painting. 

 

Park City Summit County Arts Council Executive Director Jocelyn Scudder told KPCW it was not her place to censor Fuimaono or any of the artist's murals. She says the artists were commissioned to paint messages of social equity, not explicitly a “Black Lives Matter” one.

 

“We asked [Fuimaono] to interpret racial equity and he decided he wanted to paint 'Black Lives Matter.'" she said. "He, as a colored person, identifies with that Black experience. It wouldn’t be racially equitable for me to censor that message. If that’s how he felt and that’s the message he wanted to share with the community if he identifies with that statement, he identifies with that movement, I did not feel comfortable censoring him and as the main curator on this project, we went forward.”

 

The four social equity murals on Main Street are temporary pieces and will fade with time. Fuimaono’s full message on his "Black Lives Matter" mural reads as follows:

 

“I AM Aljay Fuimaono. I am an artist and a colored man. Black Lives Matter represents all colored people who have been oppressed in this FREE land. I’ve been pulled over with my family and have been harassed. My skin color was the target but my kids don’t understand why I have to explain to my kids that daddy is a good man. In my experience, people have been conditioned to assume that a colored person is bad. I acknowledge that a lot of the crime in America happens in black neighborhoods, and black on black crime is common too. But I believe that’s the result of stripping away humanity of what was once good. Many need jobs and they wish they could but have you worked in a place where you felt like you don’t belong? Where being Ridiculed and racial slurs are still complacent. It’s wrong! Please listen! We’re not saying ONLY Black Lives Matter, it’s when Black Lives Matter TOO then our work is done. We need to Unite as a country and fix our Broken System. GOD BLESS AMERICA.”

Sean Higgins covers all things Park City and is the Saturday Weekend Edition host at KPCW. Sean spent the first five years of his journalism career covering World Cup skiing for Ski Racing Media here in Utah and served as Senior Editor until January 2020. As Senior Editor, he managed the day-to-day news section of skiracing.com, as well as produced and hosted Ski Racing’s weekly podcast. During his tenure with Ski Racing Media, he was also a field reporter for NBC Sports, covering events in Europe.