In the current climate of vicious political rhetoric, where women who testify in congress are “sluts,” and presidential candidates encourage us to bring back child labor, I suppose Larry Stirling’s red-baiting tirade against the restoration of the Chicano Park murals should come as no surprise. On a positive note, he challenges us to define the project and to counter the many stereotypes and historical mistakes perpetuated in his piece.

Perhaps most seriously, Stirling misrepresents what Chicano Park is and claims to be “mystified” by why Chicanos even have a park. Chicano Park is a monument to the power of ordinary people to force the city to fulfill a broken promise. In 1970, the community, already devastated by rezoning laws that permitted industry in a residential area, wanted a park where the city decided to build a California Highway Patrol Substation. Due to this successful community struggle, part of the rationale for the designation of Chicano Park on two historic registries is its significance in the Chicano Civil Rights Movement.

I am glad that Mr. Stirling enjoys Mexican food and our “cheerful optimism,” but much of the history recorded in the park refers not to Mexico but to the struggles of Mexican Americans in the US against labor exploitation, racist stereotypes, gentrification, 6000 deaths at the border, and the struggle for education. Since, however, Stirling wishes to see the park as “communist propaganda,” he misses how former politicians like himself are implicated in some of the injustices represented in these murals. His focus is on the usual targets—Che, Cesar Chavez, and Salvador Allende (although he never mentions Augosto Pinochet who overthrew Allende, causing 1200-3000 deaths, 80,000 detentions and the torture of 30,000 Chileans).

In addition, he charges that taxpayers are footing the bill for this restoration in light of the current California budget deficit. In reality, the grant proposal for this historic restoration was submitted in 1999 with the enthusiastic support of two Caltrans employees, San Diego Parks and Recreation, and the all volunteer Chicano Park Steering Committee. The $1.6 million to restore internationally recognized murals was granted in 2002, long before the alleged crisis. Due to red tape, the actual painting did not begin until June 20, 2011. Nor is this the first mural restoration Caltrans has been involved with; from 2002-2005, Caltrans teamed up with artists to restore murals along Los Angeles freeways. Chicano Park is one of the premier collections of outdoor murals in the world and is a major tourist site as well.

So what is really eating Mr. Stirling? I think it is that, unlike the Cinco de Mayo in Old Town that he so loves, the park represents a community victory and art that speaks truth to power. Contrary to his claims, there are many other ethnic sites in San Diego—Little Italy for one. But only Chicano Park depicts images that challenge the very stereotypes that comfort Mr. Stirling and affirm his belief that only communism has oppressed us. I would invite him to come down and take a refresher course in Chicano History, now in living color and with an Acryloid sealer that assures that both the murals and our struggle will not be forgotten.

Gail Perez teaches in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of San Diego