“Celebrate Preservation” NOT: Double Crossed Native at El Pueblo Father Serra Park
“Celebrate Preservation”: NOT
Ironically, the City of Los Angeles has a double crossed native hanging from a street lamp at El Pueblo Father Serra Park. The City has double crossed the people with a war memorial that has no material ties to the history of the founding of El Pueblo without complying with applicable laws. The City is destroying, not celebrating, preservation.
Father Serra Park is at or near the site of (1) the Native American Sacred Site, burial ground and village of Yaangna; (2) the birthplace of Los Angeles, (3) Lugo House; (4) Old Chinatown; (5) the Chinatown Massacre of 1871; and (6) St. Vincent’s College, the first institution of higher learning in Southern California (now Loyola Marymount University).
Diverse allies are preparing for trial to preserve history and green space at El Pueblo’s Father Serra Park. Learn more about the struggle to protect the historical integrity and green space of Father Serra Park here.
The poster shows part of the classic 1932 mural “America Tropical” by the great Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros. The mural depicts a native crucified on a double cross, with what the artist called an “American imperialist eagle” stretching out its talons above him. Siqueiros stated that the mural represented “the destruction of past American national cultures . . . by the invaders of both yesterday and today.” The mural was quickly whitewashed — which as it turned out help preserve the mural. Plans to conserve the mural at El Pueblo’s Italian Hall were announced in 2006.
