Restored Olympia pride mural survived hate vandalism, but now it needs a new home
An Olympia pride mural vandalized last October by members of a white nationalist hate group has been restored and is now in search of a new home.
Standing 9.5 feet high and 60 feet wide, the mural is painted on plywood. It once covered the front of the now-demolished Griswold’s building, and reads “Respect & Love Olympia” in large white letters over a rainbow background.
The mural was created in 2014 in response to attacks outside the now-closed Jake’s On 4th, a gay bar in downtown Olympia. It was also a popular spot for people to take pictures and selfies, pride mural coordinator Anna Schlecht told The Olympian.
But Olympia residents woke up on Oct. 16, 2021, to find the mural defaced with graffiti and stencil art that read “Patriot Front” and “Reclaim America.”
Two men with known connections to the Patriot Front were arrested last month and have been charged with a misdemeanor crime of aiding and abetting graffiti, according to previous Olympian reporting. The two men, Colton M. Brown and Spencer Simpson, are both Washington residents and were also identified on video during the arrest of 31 masked Patriot Front members at a pride event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in June.
“The fact that it got destroyed was upsetting,” Schlecht said, noting that the mural is now “in pretty good shape” following the restoration.
Schlecht is part of a loosely organized Olympia group called Unity in the Community, which was founded in 1992 in response to the murder of 17-year-old Asian-American Robert Buchanan Jr. at the hands of two neo-Nazis in Olympia.
The Patriot Front is classified as a white nationalist hate group created in the aftermath of the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Now that the mural is restored to its former state, Schlecht said that it is in storage as they look to find it a new home.
Schlecht said that, ideally, the mural would be placed in a local city park where it would be safe from vandalism, such as Rebecca Howard Park.
This story was originally published August 2, 2022 at 9:52 AM.
