Floyd mural hit by vandalism again
Defacing in East Downtown just days after officer was convicted in the former resident’s slaying
Daniel Anguilu drove by his George Floyd mural on his way to lunch and immediately saw that something was wrong.
The vibrant mural — part of East Downtown’s socalled Graffiti Building at Bell and Chartres — had been vandalized again, this time with a racist word scrawled in red spray paint. Anguilu and a second artist, Carlos Alcarez, painted the mural days after Floyd’s murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
Anguilu stepped out of his car and was greeted by a police officer who said he had already reported the hateful graffiti.
The message, which Thursday afternoon he quickly painted over, stated: “(N-word) lives don’t matter.”
Anguilu could not bring himself to repeat the message but showed a picture of the vandalism to newly promoted Houston police Assistant Chief Patricia Cantu. She was taken aback.
“We really don’t know why this happened or if they really meant something by it,” Anguilu said.
The vandalism — on the same industrial block as a painted portrait of slain pop star Selena — comes two days after the guilty verdict that convicted disgraced police officer Derek Chauvin of murder. The death of Floyd, a former longtime resident of Houston, sparked nationwide protests last summer and seeded a new civil rights movement.
Anguilu said this is at least the third time his Floyd mural has been vandalized. Someone scrawled, “KKK” over the work the last time.
“I believe in freedom of expression,” Anguilu continued. “If somebody felt the need to do that, that’s fine. It’ll get cleaned up.”
Anguilu said he was un
sure when the latest vandal struck but that police believe it could have happened from Wednesday night through early Thursday morning.
Chief Troy Finner, as well as major offenders investigators, were among the authorities who quickly responded to the vandalism. The chief, during a news conference, declined to call the vandalism a hate crime so soon in the investigation and without knowing the race of the suspect. But he blasted the culprit as a “knucklehead.”
“I don’t know what their motivation is,” Finner said. “I don’t know if it’s hate — or whatever.”
The chief said the defacer could face criminal mischief charges.
“I’m upset about it,” Finner continued. “But you know what? Let them do it again. Let them get caught.”
Investigators next will canvas the area surrounding the graffiti park and see if cameras picked up the vandal.
Eugene Howard, head of Brazoria County’s NAACP chapter, said he believed the vandal’s motivation to be clear.
“There were other murals on this wall, but they picked this one,” Howard said.
Other murals in Houston dedicated to Floyd, including the painting across from his former Cuney Homes residence, were being monitored, police officials said.
Members of Floyd’s family could not be reached for comment on the vandalism.
Remnants of the vandalism remained Thursday afternoon as Anguilu waited for Alcarez to bring more spray paint.
Alcarez soon arrived with the rest of the paint to patch up the mural. He recalled drawing the bulk of the portrait as Houstonians protested Floyd’s death last summer. He handled the bulk of the portrait, he said, while Anguilu painted the “I can’t breathe” message.