On Wednesday, the Daily Bruin published an article on “The Black Experience” mural, painted by UCLA’s seven black art students in 1970 following days of student protest, police intervention and subsequent violence.
The mural engaged with the experience of black people in this country and was a reflection of the social and racial tensions that surrounded the mural’s design, depicting the artists and a great number of images from African American history in the United States. It was a manifestation of the frustrations of the artists who created it ““ students, much like all of us ““ and is a lasting representation of constructive student action.
In the years after it was painted, the mural’s importance to the UCLA community is difficult to assess; artists and other sources said it was an important fixture for black students, but for the most part, members of the community made no attempts to recognize or preserve the mural.
At the time, it probably didn’t make sense to; civil rights artistry was common throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and administrators would have likely thought little of a piece of art created long before most current UCLA staff had even set foot on campus.
For these reasons, and out of a need to renovate the Ackerman Union food court, Associated Students UCLA decided to cover the mural with a false wall, preserving what was left but still hiding it from view.
The mural, administrators said, may still be preserved, at least in part, behind the wall.
This board does not wish to place blame on administrators for covering the mural ”“ many likely didn’t even know what they were dealing with, and if interest had waned to such a point that students didn’t complain or notice when it was covered, campus leaders would not have known that any wrong had been done.
But now, the mural has historicity. Its importance is linked to the artists who created it, to the sentiments that motivated them to act, to the history of black Americans, and to the tradition of student protest on this campus.
For these reasons, the members of this board wish to encourage leaders within ASUCLA and other relevant campus administrators to remove the false wall that hides “The Black Experience.” If the mural has been damaged, as reports and recollections seem to suggest, UCLA should invite the artists to help restore the mural and renew its presence on campus.
It is our impression that doing so would send an important message to the artists and to UCLA’s black community, and would reinstate a valuable reminder of the important battles fought in this campus’ colorful history.