Student’s artwork of King, Malcolm X removed

Published: December 09, 2007 11:17 pm
Rosemary Ford

LAWRENCE — Thuan Tran sacrificed his time. He sacrificed his Saturdays. But last week, Superintendent Wilfredo T. Laboy ordered that a mural the 15-year-old did at Lawrence High School showing Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X be painted over.

“I worked so hard on it; I didn’t get to finish it,” said Tran, a student at the high school’s Humanities and Leadership Development Academy.

“What kind of leadership is that? Crushing a kid’s dreams? What kind of leadership is that?” Tran said.

The young artist, whose murals already adorn the walls of the Lawrence Community Day Charter School and Boys and Girls Club, tried to stand in front of his nearly completed work when janitors came for it with buckets of white paint last Thursday. Ultimately, he had to step aside and let them erase his work of the last two months.

“Our principal said, ‘I am sorry, there is nothing you can do,’” said 16-year-old Melanie Lilly. “Thuan was in front of the painting. He was crushed. I could see it in his face.”

“It was our painting; it wasn’t just Thuan’s” said 16-year-old Chris Cruz, who was awed by Tran’s work in progress. “We are an academy. We are together.”

Also erased was a pencil sketch for a mural map of Lawrence, in one of the building’s classrooms used for social studies.

“It was a beautiful map of Lawrence,” said 17-year-old Edward Cedano, who has a class in the room where the mural was supposed to be painted. “I don’t understand.”

Tran doesn’t believe Laboy saw the murals in person. He heard that Laboy sent someone to the school with a camera to snap photos and bring them back to him. Tran said he was told by his teachers that it’s a district policy to have murals approved by the superintendent’s office.

Tran said he got approval from his principal, Michael Fiato. Attempts to reach Fiato and Laboy for comment Friday were unsuccessful.

According to Lawrence High Headmaster Dr. Thomas Sharkey, school district approval is needed before starting the mural and he didn’t believe it had been acquired. However, when asked about the Martin Luther King mural, he was unaware it had already been erased at the school.

“I am not sure exactly what happened,” he said.

Mayor Michael Sullivan believes that principals should get approval for murals from the school district, as reportedly is the policy. He believes Laboy acted appropriately when it came to unapproved murals.

“It’s a tough one,” Sullivan said. “I am sure it wasn’t based on the content. Superintendent Laboy was probably surprised any painting was in any school.”

Tran designed the Martin Luther King/Malcolm X mural to relate to the school’s mission of training students as leaders. Tran saw the mural about “not being a follower, just being yourself.”

While he understands that rules must be followed, he was upset he never got a chance to plead his case to Laboy.

“He didn’t give a nyone a chance to beg or reason,” said Tran. “He didn’t give anybody a chance. It’s like we have no freedom.”

“I understand, it’s a beautiful new school, but I didn’t see anything bad about it,” said Lilly. “I think he (Laboy) should have waited and talked to the actual artist.”

Other students who attend the school were also upset. Adelaida Camilo, 15, thought Tran’s mural brightened up the “jail cell”-like walls of the school.

“It’s really upsetting to see something so good go to waste,” said Lilly. “The walls were so sterile. It looked so beautiful.”

According to students, there was some question about whether a third mural at the school would be erased. That mural, about the global warming crisis, occupies part of a fourth-floor hallway. However, that mural — painted by students in Lawrence High’s mural class — seems to be safe.

The students said they felt such actions are symptomatic of other problems at the school, where they feel they’ve got no place to express themselves.

Several students cited spot checks by “the fashion police,” who give students detention for wearing solid navy sweaters without the school logos. For the record, solid navy sweaters with the school logo are an accepted part of the uniform.

“Now they are checking up on us,” Lilly said. “They just saw something else they didn’t like. I think it’s gone a little overboard. Everybody is thankful for the new school. I think that was Thuan’s way of saying thanks. They got rid of it so quick.”

The students questioned Laboy’s commitment to themselves and the school.

“I haven’t seen Laboy around when there are no cameras,” said Camilo.

“He makes himself a dictator. What he says goes,” Cedano said. “Why doesn’t he worry about kids graduating instead of what’s on the walls?”

Students say this incident has taught them something about leadership.

“There is a way to be a leader and there is a way to be reckless,” said Lilly, who’s glad the students didn’t protest or get angry about what happened. “We are using our words and leadership skills instead.”

However, she worried about the message this action sends.

“If you are going to do good, and they are going to take it away, why do we do it?” she asked. “I just hope it doesn’t have a negative effect on the whole school.”