A historically accurate mural about the Ohlone Native Americans' brutal annihilation by Spanish missionaries is slated to be painted over by property management, allegedly because someone got offended by its portrayal of nudity.
The mural has graced the corner of 41st Street and Piedmont Avenue in Oakland for 20 years.
Entitled "The Capture of the Solid, Escape of the Soul," the mural depicts the history of the Bay Area's gold miners and cowboys. It’s also fused with modern society and other themes.
The work painted by Rocky Rische-Baird depicts Ohlone natives being given small-pox infected blankets and clothing. The artist said the Ohlone did not wear clothes before western influence.
According to an email sent to tenants of the Castle Apartment building at 4154 Piedmont Ave. by SG Real Estate Co. the painting that shows a nude Ohlone man is being destroyed because some find it distasteful.
When it was unveiled in 2006, there were protests over the full nudity of the Ohlone man accepting clothes from a missionary, which are depicted as doll cut-out clothes, while modern society looks on.
Over the years, the mural has been targeted by vandals and graffiti artists.
