The defacing of a controversial painting in Bastion Square over the weekend shows that the city still has a long way to go when it comes to dealing with systemic racism, Mayor Lisa Helps said Monday.
And the African Heritage Association of Vancouver Island, one of the painting’s sponsors along with the city, said in a separate statement that the continuing focus on the painting has become a distraction from the actual work that needs to get done.
The More Justice, More Peace painting, which was completed in August, was a joint effort by 17 artists to raise awareness of injustices suffered by Black and Indigenous people and people of colour.
It quickly became controversial, however, after someone noticed that the painting’s letter “S” contained the acronym ACAB, which commonly stands for All Cops Are Bastards or All Cops Are Bad. The city said at the time that the acronym was not part of the original concept and that its presence came as a surprise.
After weeks of negotiations, the artists agreed to replace the acronym last week by covering the entire letter “S” with a black rectangle containing one eagle feather and the words: “This letter has been censored by the City of Victoria influenced by the Victoria Police Department. In doing so, Victoria is contributing to the silencing of Black and Indigenous voices and experiences across this land.”
Victoria Police Chief Del Manak responded with a statement late Friday saying the new message was “as offensive, if not more so,” than the original acronym, and the following morning an unidentified white male was spotted painting over the revised artwork.
Helps said in a statement that it was “disappointing” to see the painting vandalized. She said the revisions fit within the city’s public art policy and reflected “the artists’ experience of the past few weeks and months.”
“What this situation reveals is that we have a lot of work to do as a city — city administration, city council, police department and other institutions in the city — to address systemic racism and to listen to the voices that have been historically marginalized and that continue to be marginalized.”
Helps said the important conversations will continue this fall as the city develops a Welcoming City Strategy to ensure that the city is safe and welcoming for everyone.
“We need to recognize power imbalances, recognize systemic discrimination, recognize that right now there is an ‘us’ and a ‘them’ with different access to power, to institutions, to jobs, to resources, to economic security,” she said.
The African Heritage Association, meanwhile, said it had been involved in extensive discussions about the ACAB acronym with the artists, city staff, city councillors and the police chief.
“City of Victoria staff have been fully engaged in this process and respectful of the sensitivity of this subject from the perspective of both sides, the artists have made concessions and we were on our way to reaching a consensus before external pressures presented themselves,” the association said.
“While we feel a lot of learning has occurred, it is disheartening to us that with so much time, energy and money having been utilized, the status around the mural is at its current state.”
The association described the ongoing controversy as a distraction that diverts resources from the actual work of “dealing with the current and real circumstances of systemic racism and inequity in social, political and policing systems.”
Painting organizer Charity Williams agreed that it’s time to focus on the real issues that the artwork was intended to highlight.
“I think this violence needs to end,” she said. “I think the violence shows where the city is at. And as frustrated as I am, it’s really telling people something. I think it’s time now to have some dialogue about what’s happened and … what we can do to be an actual community.”
As for the artwork itself, Williams said it has been defaced a number of times in the past. “Each time we’ve brought it back to its original statement, so that’s what’s going to happen.”
Police are still looking for the vandal. The suspect is described as five-foot-eight with a medium build. He was driving a red and white motorcycle.
