After folks got a gander at a school mural depicting President Donald Trump's bloody, severed head rammed through the mouth with a warrior's spear, the backlash was intense — and school officials in Chula Vista, California, promptly covered the image and said the artist agreed to modify it, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
MAAC Community Charter School holds an annual scholarship fundraiser called Battlegroundz during which students and invited artists paint murals in an alley behind the school, the paper said. Artist Sasha Andrade painted the Trump image.
But when complaints about the mural poured in, the school covered it with black plastic and then with what appeared to be plywood late last week, the Union-Tribune said. A vehicle also was parked in front the mural.
“We understand that there was a mural painted at the event this past weekend that does not align with our school’s philosophy of non-violence,” school director Tommy Ramirez said in a statement to the paper. “We have been in communication with the artist — who has agreed to modify the artwork — to better align with the school’s philosophy.”
Andrade appeared defiant in a Facebook post last week regarding the Trump image: "They can try to #censor it but here it is guys!!!! ... lets [sic] make this #viral lol ... who wants some stickers???"
Andrade added in subsequent posts that she received hateful messages. She noted on Sunday that a decision was made to change the mural "because there were threats made to the school from 'white supremacist' [sic] and threats to the kids ... we were just going to adjust the mural but when things got out of control and the school started receiving threats and putting the students at risk we decided to change it completely."
But Andrade added, "We will never give up to fighting for our rights and fighting to end this racist country that this 'president' has created!"
MAAC Charter was founded in 2001 by the Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee on Anti-Poverty of San Diego County, is open to all county students from the ages of 14 through 24 and serves 300 students, the Union-Tribune said.
Manny Rubio, public information officer at Sweetwater Union High School District which charters the school, told the paper his office received numerous calls about the mural — including calls from out of state — but said MAAC Charter is independently run and not governed by the district’s board of trustees.
Here's what the school said in a statement on the matter, the Union-Tribune reported: “Our school has a focus on critical thinking; our students learn their academic curriculum by examining current issues. We expect that this, and other murals, will give cause for conversation among our student population and are ready to help them reflect on it and formulate their own opinions about its message and implications.”
