Hundreds attended a unity rally late Wednesday for a badly burned mural depicting LGBT love in SF. Terry McSweeney reports.
Hundreds attended unity rally late Wednesday for a badly burned digital mural depicting LGBT love between people of Chicano/Latino descent in San Francisco's Mission District.
The mural, called "Por Vida" and designed by Manuel Paul, is displayed outside of Galeria de la Raza. According to 48 Hills, it had previously been defaced by paint and restored.
It was set on fire on Monday night, prompting concern for the potential danger it could have caused in the immediate area.
"The level of anger and hate expressed by the perpetrator(s) has moved beyond the dislike of a piece of art and into endangering the lives of families who live in the building and could have displaced families that have lived in the building for more than 20 years," representatives for Galeria de la Raza wrote in a statement posted to the website.
"We need to do a little soul searching and thinking about the other people that have been affected by this, such as our neighbors and the immediate people around the building," Galeria de la Raza's executive director Ani Rivera told NBC Bay Area. "When you have a fire, it's a serious threat."
Rivera also said that whomever did it was captured on surveillance camera. Anyone caught could face hate crime charges.
