| xicano parque |
04.30.01 |
 In the city of San Diego, just fifteen miles away from the international border with Mexico, just one exit after Pershing Drive (named after the US General whose army crossed Mexico's sovereignty in search of Pancho Villa) you will find Barrio Logan. And in Barrio Logan, underneath the maze that is the freeway system with its exits, entrances, and off and on ramps, you will find Chicano Park. The Logan neighborhood has been a predominately Chicano Mexicano community going back before the early 1900's. Since the fifties the zoning laws enacted by the city council drastically changed the landscape of this community. The community slowly was turning from a purely residential area to an industrial neighborhood with junk and scrap yards. In 1963, the completion of interstate 5 cut through the heart of the neighborhood, there are some estimates that up to five thousand families where displaced by the construction of the interstate. Once again the neighborhood landscape was altered by the construction of the Coronado Bay Bride in 1969. All along the community asked the city for a plot of land so that they could have, in their community, a park in which to have trees and benches and where the children could play. In 1970, the CHP started the construction of a Highway Patrol station in the land that the residents of the neighborhood wanted to convert into a park. This was the last straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. The people took over, as in an occupation, the lot of land and defied bulldozers, police, and the civic authorities while negotiations where under way. This was a militant occupation by community, Chicano Mexicano activist, Brown Berets, local area students, men, women, and children. The Chicano flag was raised on top a telephone pole. During the occupation local residents planted nopal, maguey, trees, and flowers. They started to transformation that which soon would become their park. Needless to say the residents won, the city allotted them the lot underneath the pillars and pylons of interstate 5 and the Coronado Bay Bride to be converted into a park. But more than that happened.
What makes the park unique, aside from it being under the freeway, is the mosaic of murals. Local art students turn the pylons into murals by painting their stories. These are the stories about the creation of the park, of the community, and of the Chicano Mexicano peoples' struggles and achievements. One mural, for example, is a homage to our heroes going back to Juan Diego, O'Higgins, Guevera, Hidalgo, Morelos, Juarez, Villa, and Zapata. That same mural also draws our great artist such as Orosco, Kahlo, and Rivera.  It is easy to see the mixture of heritage that is the Chicano Mexicano people in these murals. You could see, side by side, the ancient gods of the Aztecs and the catholic patron saint of Mexico, La Virgen de Guadalupe. The murals in the park are really an impressive piece of artwork. It's unlike anything else that you have seen. Just imagine it, the walls of this open space gallery is the support beams and pylons of the same interstate that cut through this community in half and displace many of its long time residents. It's almost ironic. But that irony does not alleviate the pains and needs of this community.
Ningun ser humano es ilegal.
No human being is illegal.
Written on a mural in Chicano Park.
Resource:
epilef gallery |
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