Homies Organizing The Mission To Empower Youth

We are creating a monumental mural that speaks truth-to-power against racist police brutality and reclaims the Mission as sanctuary for hard working immigrants.  The mural started as a humble project, and through the many difficulties of securing a wall, we were given the great honor of painting the entire 24th street facade of the building at 24th and Capp, the gateway to the lower 24th Street Cultural Corridor and wrapping the mural around the front and back of the building.  This project has become an opportunity to make a prominent and lasting statement.  

On February 26, 2015, two San Francisco police officers fired six bullets to the back of 21-year-old Amilcar Perez Lopez when he was running for his life, leaving him in a pool of blood on Folsom Street. Despite the subsequent failure of our legal system to hold the officers accountable for his murder, this mural honors this brave young Guatemalan immigrant, his grieving family in Guatemala, and this Mission community that refuses to forget him.

This mural is a work of love and a testimony to the love and bravery of this young man, a Ch’orti’ Mayan immigrant from Guatemala who arrived in the U.S. when he was 17. He was a worker at construction sites and restaurants throughout San Francisco. Friends and coworkers remember him as a hardworking, thoughtful, generous young man.  Amilcar was a provider for his family, sending remittances back home, fruit of his hard labor. 

The project was conceived of by the Justice4Amilcar Coalition that has demanded justice for Amilcar and his family ever since his death.  This project has been carried forward by Artist and Cultural Organizer, Carla Wojczuk, who has collaborated with Precita Eyes for the last ten years and works with the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project.  Carla and J4Amilcar have collaborated closely with HOMEY San Francisco, the lead partnering organization, on this project for the past two years. HOMEY has spent the last 20 years organizing against the police brutality in the Mission District; they helped design the mural and have been steadfast in seeing the project through.  This project is a collaboration of Calle24, which preserves and proudly shares the Mission’s rich cultural heritage with all its struggles, triumphs, and resilience. Lastly, Mission Housing, a strong counter force to the escalating gentrification and displacement and its accompanying police brutality we’re still fighting against in our community, has graciously provided the space for us to paint the mural. 

The mural project has been joined by a dream-team group of artists.   Lucia Ippolito has played a central role in working with Carla to bring the mural design to completion, assisted by the talent of Flavia Elisa Mora.  Lucia, Carla, Flavia, along with Pancho Pescador, Adrianna Adams, and Cristian Munoz will comprise our mural team, who’s creative force will make the mural sing. 

Please join us and donate what you can to help us get this mural painted and finished this summer/autumn.  Your donations go directly to buying paint and paying for the muralists’ labor.