Murals and politics mix it up in Tucson

What are thought of as minorities in most of the U.S. are majorities in Tucson. Whites, non-hispanic whites, anglos –whatever we are called–are a minority here. By “we” I am including myself in this category. Having lived for decades in Los Angeles, for me being part of a sizeable and influential minority is old news. The hispanic last name, Garcia, has been #1 since the 1990s in California. That’s also true in Arizona.

So what’s it got to do with murals?

Up until this last year most of the murals in Tucson have been non-political. They have been more about the artists’ creative minds, the beauty of the city and the drama of the Sonora desert, than about the fevered political passions in Arizona. Or the political views of various identity groups.

Beautiful murals, striking images like these are found throughout Tucson:

Then came the George Floyd murder and our mayor, Regina Romero, a Latina, a Democrat, authorized a Black Lives Matter banner to be hung from city hall. It caused an uproar. And led to an effort to recall the mayor, which failed to gain enough signatures to be put on the ballot.

(A footnote: the initials BLM stands for Bureau of Land Management to many people in the Western United States–not Black Lives Matter. The BLM is a government department reviled by many Westerners. )

Politics go to the walls

Within days of that banner going up Black Lives Matter murals began to appear around the city. Other murals focusing on issues espoused by other groups of people including Hispanics and Native Americans followed.

Here is one of the most strikingly political murals in the city. It is located beside the 6th Avenue underpass near downtown.

And a closer view of these mural panels. The word “Chukson” or “Cucson” appears on a couple of them; that was the original Native American name for Tucson, which initially was pronounced as “Tuckson”.

Then there is this mural I stumbled across when I went to visit the Little Free Food Pantry on 31st Street. It is located in a predominantly Latino (Mexican) part of the city. I love the message and the spirit of it. It is the antithesis of identity politics. The artwork is great, too.

In a sea of Red that is Arizona, Tucson is a Blue island, politically. The divide in Arizona is not so much along ethnic lines as urban v. rural as well as old v. young. Arizona is changing.

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