Around 300 people joined forces to repair a giant Black Lives Matter mural Sunday in downtown Santa Cruz.
The work was a community response to the mural being damaged by two men in what prosecutors described as a hate crime for felony vandalism when they burned truck tire marks into the mural in 2021.
Painting the mural was part of nationwide protests for racial justice and police accountability after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by Minneapolis Police in 2020
“We weren’t surprised by what happened to George Floyd and Brianna Taylor—all these things have happened since slavery, and even before we were brought here,” said Santa Cruz County Third District Supervisor Justin Cummings. “Now in 2023 we’re still having to fight for our rights and still having to have these conversations.”
Tim Opurt said he was glad to be a part of the painters assigned to restore the mural.
“It feels good to be out here with all these people and to be a part of the mural repair,” he said. “This is about doing something together with the community and doing something positive.”
In November 2022, Hagan Warner and Brandon Bochat were sentenced to 90 days in jail and ordered to pay $19,000 in restitution for leaving their tire marks on the mural.
“It was wrong and I am truly remorseful for any hurt I may have caused,” Warner, one of the accused vandals, told the crowd Sunday. “My actions were disrespectful and inappropriate. I should have thought more about the impact of my participation before doing something so thoughtless and damaging. I regret my actions and I will do anything I can to make things right, such as being here today, joining the Juneteenth community celebration and participating in future community outreach and education.”
Warner went on to name a list of people who have helped him “learn a tremendous amount. I hope you can forgive me and I hope we can work together to support the important message of the Black Lives Matter movement.”
Bochat, his friend, also spoke at the gathering: “I want to deeply apologize for vandalizing the mural and I apologize for the way it may have made you feel unsafe and for endangering your own community. Personally, I would like everyone to feel safe and without having to look over their shoulder every five seconds. I appreciate this opportunity of restorative justice; it has been a great learning experience for myself, working closely with the community to learn how important this mural is. And what this mural truly represents—to standing up to police brutality as well as racism in America, which is a serious and ongoing issue in our society currently. I look forward to continuing to learn more about racism as well as more about the movement. Thank you.”
The pair’s sentence included engaging in restorative justice, which was advocated by Abi Mustapha, the local artist and social justice organizer who began the mural project. That would include dialogue led by SC Equity Collab and the Conflict Resolution Center.
Cummings and Santa Cruz City Councilmember Sonja Brunner attended and officially proclaimed the day to be “Abi Mustapha Day.”
