Council Rejects Holden’s Bid to Move Site of Planned Black Panthers Mural
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The Los Angeles City Council on Friday rejected an attempt by Councilman Nate Holden to change the location of a proposed mural depicting the Black Panthers.
In a 7-3 vote, the council sided with representatives of a public art program who said that a recommendation to move the mural would amount to censorship.
Instead, the mural depicting a gun-toting Huey Newton and other scenes of the black radical group will be allowed to go up on the side of a Jefferson Boulevard barber shop.
Mural artist Noni Olabisi wept after the vote. “I’m very pleased,” she said, adding that the history of the Black Panthers is significant.
Holden said the depiction of Newton and other images, including a black man in a noose, could incite violence in his district. He asked that the council make a formal request to move the proposed location outside the barber shop to an indoor gallery--perhaps the African-American Museum in Exposition Park or a city arts center in his district.
The city’s Cultural Affairs Commission had already approved the location of the mural, near 11th Avenue. A representative of the city attorney’s office said Friday that only safety issues, not content, should be considered in locating public art.
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