Jason Jimenez

English 101

Professor: Ms. Batty

29/May/2018

A Message for Resistance: United Fight Against Social Oppression

Los Angeles is known for Hollywood movie stars and glamour, but it should also be

known for street art. It should be known for the murals on street walls that bleed political, social,

or personal messages. Los Angeles should be known for murals like the one I'm going to be

talking about, Willie Herron's "The Wall that Crack'd Open," which have historical value and

important social messages. The mural was painted in 1972 by Willie Herron during an important

time in Chicano history. According to an article on Remezcla a web-based news journal, written

by Yara Simon, "In the 1960's and 1970's- in the midst of the Chicano Movement-murals became

a symbol of empowerment for Mexican-Americans who didn’t see themselves represented in the

mainstream" (Simon). This quote proves the point I'm trying to express about Willie Herron's

mural being a voice for the Mexican-American community. It was painted during a time in

which Chicanos' were trying hard to have their voices heard by the nation. The mural I'm writing

about deteriorates your smile and manifests the emotional distress incorporated into the mural,

onto its viewers. The mural is in East Los Angeles, a city mainly habited by Mexican-American

communities. These communities are, still to this day, stricken with difficult times from police

harassment to financial distress. These families are forced to live in a boiling pot, that is boiling

over, with injustice, crime, and poverty. So, that is why the murals message is evident, not only

in the painting itself, but in the evidence of the environment where it resides and the historical
significance behind the era of the mural. Although many would dispute the connection between

the mural and the struggles of minorities, I believe that Willie Herron's "The Wall that Crack'd

Open" is a mural that voices the social oppression, the emotional pain it causes, and dire need for

resistance felt by the entire Hispanic community.

Confined in the mural is the message of being socially oppressed. To begin with, the mural

consists of five figures two elderly men at the bottom, two elderly women towards the middle,

and a spiritual being at the very top. The people in the mural are painted exactly in the middle of

a large wall. They appear to be grouped together and isolated as if they lived in exile. The elderly

men and women have brown skin and represent the Hispanic community. This is a clear

indication that Willie Herron conveyed the social oppression that Hispanic communities faced as

being isolated in society. By this I mean, they are treated differently than other communities in

society. This sense of grouping is an indication of social oppression, because those who are

oppressed are confined together in "social groups" based on many factors such as race, poverty,

and class. The Hispanic communities feel the isolation in society due to many factors. For one,

the Immigration and Customs Enforcement known as "ICE," which strip the constitutional rights

of Hispanic communities with use of unlawful raids, check points, and random detaining of

people in public places. That is just one of the many ways that Hispanics are treated unequally in

this country. Aside from law enforcement they are also viewed negatively in society because of

socially accepted stereotypes that picture Hispanics as criminals. In the mural, "The Wall that

Crack'd Open," by Willie Herron not only expresses social oppression, but also the emotional

impact it causes.

Willie Herron's mural expresses the emotional pain felt by Hispanics with its colors and

facial features within the center piece. To begin, the mural has a very pale colored background
that looks like someone's skin color when receiving agonizing news. This visual effect sets the

depressing tone of his artwork. The mural does not have the use of many colors, so, it gives a

consistent mood or feeling. The artist use of a lack in colorful detail is to convey the pain used to

create the mural. Next, the details incorporated in the center piece of the mural expresses the

painful and depressing feeling the Hispanic communities feel. In the center, lays the faces of two

elderly women peeking over. By the features of their facial expressions, we can agree that, the

two women look depressed as if they were suffering with a deepened pain. The fact that they are

painted in the center gives an impression that they have a significant meaning. As stated in

"Picture This," by Molly Bang "the center of the page is the most effective "center of attraction."

It is the point of greatest attraction" (Bang). The quote suggests that the center is the place that

attracts the most attention. With that in mind, we may agree, that the two elderly women were

intentionally placed there to give the greatest attention to an important message. I believe, that

the significance of the center piece is to attract attention to the emotional pain he is trying to

make you aware of. Therefore, I believe that, through the absence of vibrant colors and the

detailed facial expressions in the center piece, the artist expresses the emotional pain felt in the

Hispanic communities because of social oppression.

Willie Herron's mural speaks out on a dire need for a Hispanic Resistance movement against

social oppression. There are a few details in the mural that provoke this socially charged

message. The first detail is that each of the figures overlap one another from bottom to the top

and are tightly confined together. That detail of a vertical structured placement for the figures,

gives this strong need for human unity to form a united power. This unity is supported in Molly

Bang's "Picture This." The first point she makes is that overlapping objects join together to form

a "single unit" (Bang). This point contributes to the feeling the mural provokes about a need for
unity. With the combination of unity and the last quote from Molly Bang that I'll be discussing

next, tie together and reveal the murals message. This last point directly quoted from Molly

Bang's "Picture This," states that, "Vertical structures are monuments of kinetic energy of the

past and the future, and to potential energy in the present" (Bang). To elaborate on the quote, I'm

going to break it down and then combine to help convey the message. First, kinetic energy is the

work needed to create movement in a body of mass. Next, think of the words "past and future,"

as the past being the rested state and the future being the distance the kinetic energy is

maintained until there's change. Now, think of the present being the work needed to create a

movement from the past until the future. Then, by combining all this information together you'll

see things from my perspective. That to change how the Hispanic community has been socially

oppressed, depends on us working hard in the present, to unite and form a Hispanic Resistance

movement against social oppression, to one day create change for the future.

In sum, "The Wall That Crack’d Open” by Willie Herron represents the social

oppression, emotional pain, and dire need for a resistance movement, that is still being felt by the

Hispanic community. From the color, the images, and structure, the mural calls out for attention

and evokes its feelings into the viewer. The mural was painted in 1972 during the Chicano

Movement that Willie Herron participated in with his murals. So, the significance of that

information lets me know that the mural has a background in Hispanic history. I believe that the

movement is still not over and needs a new over haul of voices like this mural did back in the

70’s. Now, in present times, I believe that Hispanic communities need more people to rise and

speak for the unheard. To make our presence remembered like “The Wall That Crack’d Open.”
 Work Cited Page

Simon, Yara. “The Getty Foundation Is Funding An Unprecedented Number of SoCal Latino & Latin

AmericaThemed Art Exhibits For 2017.” Remezcla, Getty Foundation, 2016, remezcla.com/lists/culture/getty-

foundation-grants-for-latino-art-southern-california/+.

Garrett, Molly Bang. Picture This: How Pictures Work. Chronicle Books, 2016.