{"id":213681,"date":"2026-03-21T00:20:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T00:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/213681\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T00:20:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T00:20:39","slug":"debate-sparked-by-possible-alterations-to-historic-mural-at-chamizal-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/213681\/","title":{"rendered":"Debate sparked by possible alterations to historic mural at Chamizal National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM<\/a>) \u2014 Some residents are raising their voices against the potential repainting of an iconic mural in South-Central El Paso.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, March 19, the superintendent of the Chamizal National Memorial Cultural Center, Gerardo Gonzalez, held a meeting with the public to discuss the repainting of a portion of the \u201cNuestra Herencia\u201d mural.<\/p>\n

\u201cNuestra Herencia\u201d or \u201cOur Heritage,\u201d painted by El Paso native Carlos Flores in 1992, is an 18-by-120-foot mural on the east side of the Chamizal National Memorial Cultural Center, according to the center\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The mural tells the story of regional cultural blending through symbols and images of both the U.S. and Mexico.<\/p>\n

In 2016, for the park\u2019s 50th anniversary, the center commissioned a restoration from Flores and his son, Marco Flores. The restoration included a new face in the mural: former U.S. President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

Before Obama, a rendition of opera singer Marian Anderson was on the original 1992 mural. The former president visited the Chamizal National Memorial in 2011.<\/p>\n

Along with a new artist, Gonzalez showcased the rough drafts of what the new portion of the mural would look like to the public, which includes farmers, churches, a steam train, an American and Mexican native and former President John F. Kennedy.<\/p>\n

\"Rough<\/p>\n

Rough sketch of the portion of the new Chamizal National Memorial Center. mural. Photo taken by KTSM staff<\/p>\n

\"Rough<\/p>\n

Rough sketch of the portion of the new Chamizal National Memorial Center. mural. Photo taken by KTSM staff<\/p>\n

\"Rough<\/p>\n

Rough sketch of the portion of the new Chamizal National Memorial Center. mural. Photo taken by KTSM staff<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re celebrating each other through culture, tradition, experience, hard work, the treaties, our nation, our faith,\u201d said the new artist during the meeting. This new work would remove Obama\u2019s portrait.<\/p>\n

Once the presentation of the rough drafts ended, the floor was open for the audience of 20 to ask questions and give feedback. One man got up and disagreed about the removal of Obama from the mural.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez stated that this had nothing to do with DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) but said Kennedy is a better fit for his instrumental role in negotiating the treaty that created the Chamizal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason that President Kennedy is there is because it is by his doing that this land (Chamizal) exists now. There is no longer a fight between the United States and Mexico on the border,\u201d Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n

The man also said there was no representation for African Americans in El Paso.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe railroads are a big part of African American history in El Paso. The people who built them were African Americans. So what you\u2019re showing is now, you have no African American influence in it (rough draft of mural) at all, absolutely nothing. And we think that\u2019s unacceptable,\u201d the man said.<\/p>\n

After the man, a woman got up to speak about the erasure of the original artist\u2019s, Carlos Flores, work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have to be concerned about a couple of these issues, and one of them is the erasure of the original artist and to appreciate the history of the artist and the feelings,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez told the public that a portion of Flores\u2019 work will stay up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe larger portion facing south that includes, that is Mr. Flores\u2019 work, that includes from the missionary days to the African American history that\u2019s there, and moving forward, right? If you go out and look at it, you\u2019ll see it, right? That is going to stay. That\u2019s not going anywhere,\u201d Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n

Marcos Flores said he isn\u2019t pleased about painting over portions of his father\u2019s work, and says that the story of \u201cNuestra Herencia\u201d is changing meaning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not happy with what they\u2019re doing, obviously. And I feel the fact that there\u2019s no African-American representation in the new proposal is a very big misstep. I don\u2019t know how that happened, but there\u2019s a lot of little things with the new proposal that I obviously, for one, the fact that they\u2019re covering up the mural and that they\u2019re cutting it apart. The mural is one story. It should not be edited or chopped. So when you do something like that to a piece of work, then you\u2019re just changing what it says,\u201d Marcos Flores said.<\/p>\n

Flores said he fears that with the newly painted mural at Chamizal will erase the history and story of the Borderland.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy fear, because this administration hasn\u2019t been quite honest, is that they will backtrack and they will erase everything, which is what they\u2019ve been doing all over the country. That\u2019s my biggest fear,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Janace Wallace with the El Paso Black Arts Association saying she\u2019s disappointed with the removal of former President Obama from the mural.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo today, unfortunately, I heard that the 44th president, Mr. Barack Obama, would be covered with a mural of two Native American women signing a peace treaty. And I believe that that\u2019s very convenient for the situation. However, it\u2019s not convenient for what we\u2019ve been experiencing thus far in our community and in our culture,\u201d Wallace said.<\/p>\n

Wallace says after Thursday\u2019s meeting, the artist can go back to the drawing board and hope that the history of African Americans in El Paso will be reflected in the mural.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, our history continues to be erased. It continues to be overlooked. This is just another situation of that. I do feel that with the feedback that he received today, he (the artist) is going to go home and think about it. I think it\u2019s important that we continue to have meetings like this each and every time a mural is going to be put up or is going to be placed in El Paso moving forward, just to make sure that they\u2019re representing all of the diversity here in El Paso,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

KTSM 9 has reached out to Gonzalez for comment.<\/p>\n

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) \u2014 Some residents are raising their voices against the potential repainting of an iconic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[83703,21718,63497,54859,26246,138,140,139,83699,32053,498,83700,83702,13183,83701],"class_list":["post-213681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-african-american-history","tag-african-americans","tag-carlos-flores","tag-chamizal-national-memorial","tag-cultural-center","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-gerardo-gonzalez","tag-john-f-kennedy","tag-ktsm","tag-marco-flores","tag-marcos-flores","tag-president-barack-obama","tag-rough-sketch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}