Art by MEGAN CHAI
Text by MEGAN CHAI and SASHA POOR
painting a new future
A MURAL’S POWER TO UNITE STUDENTS
O
NCE OCCUPYING A BARE and lackluster wall on the side of the Student Center, Palo Alto High School alumnus James Franco’s mural depicted Paly football players, painted in strokes of black and white, with one player passing the ball while another tackled an opponent. Inspired by Paly’s 1993 yearbook, the mural was a staple of Paly landscape until January of this year. Following recent sexual misconduct allegations against Franco, the Paly administration decided to remove Franco’s artwork, leaving the wall bare. Now, to fill the blank space, the school has commissioned the Latinos Unidos Club to create a new mural to replace Franco’s. From illustrations of Martin Luther King to Malala Yousafzai, the new student-or-
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ganized mural on the Student Center will depict important figures from different cultures around the world. “A really big thing that we want to see is that the people painting the mural are just as diverse as the people that are on the mural,” says Ricardo Lombera, president of the Latinos Unidos club. “We hope that this mural will celebrate the rich cultures of all the people that attend Paly.” Latinos Unidos has partnered with Black Scholars United, AP Studio Art and Social Justice Pathway students to create the new mural on the Student Resource Center, emphasizing the theme of diversity. “It is also to have a lasting message on Paly that should be here for a couple years and to show the unification of different clubs and different groups,” says senior Naima Castaneda-Isaac, president of BSU.
Sophomore Pooja Akella, treasurer of the Sports, Arts and Movies of South Asia Club, praises the muralists for featuring traditionally underrepresented voices. “They’re bringing in a lot of clubs from around campus which is great because you have an increase in the student participation and student voice,” Akella says. “It highlights a lot of the more underrepresented groups or the minority groups, which I think is definitely important.” Some of these marginalized groups make their voices heard through three major clubs at Paly — Latinos Unidos, BSU and SAMoSA. Latinos Unidos The Latinos Unidos club was founded in response to the lack of representation and minority voice for Latinos in the Paly