Statement from Acting Public Works Director Alaric Degrafinried Regarding the Removal of a Black Lives Matter Mural on a Bernal Heights Boulder

For immediate release: June 9, 2020

Contact: Rachel Gordon: rachel.gordon@sfdpw.org

 

 

 

San Francisco, CA – A San Francisco Public Works employee on our graffiti abatement crew, responding to a 311 service request, painted out a Black Lives Matter mural on a boulder in Bernal Heights this morning. This was an extremely unfortunate mistake that never should have happened.

 

San Francisco Public Works stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and we join people across our country and world in grief and anger at our local and national systems that perpetrate violence against Black people and people of color. The painting out of the mural was a mistake. To be clear, it was not done in an attempt to silence people’s anger, sadness and frustration over police brutality and institutional racism. I have reached out to the person who painted the mural to offer my sincere apology and assurance that we would not be removing her work from the boulder again. We also are offering her paint.

 

Public Works, along with all other City departments, is working with the Office of Racial Equity to advance a citywide racial equity framework that addresses the history of structural and institutional racism in San Francisco government’s policies and practices.

 

Public Works commits to doing the difficult work of examining how racism has impacted our organization and the communities we serve. We strive to build a department that responds to these systems of oppression, both internally and externally, and erases racial disparities in the workplace and in how we provide services to San Francisco’s diverse communities.

 

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