Graffiti with racist language led artists to take action in this Fort Worth suburb
Artists and others in the community are rallying around Jesus Guajardo, owner of the Tutti-Frutti ice cream shop and paleteria in Hurst, after his business was the target of racist graffiti.
In October, they discovered that someone painted “I hate Mexicans” on the wall of the shop that faces an alley.
“I felt very sad and a little bit angry because days before, someone stole a flower pot that I had in front of the ice cream shop,” Guajardo said. “I was thinking I am doing my best to make the shop look better and some people don’t care about it. I feel very grateful with the community.”
Sergio Santos and Josh Santillan, who founded the nonprofit Central Arts, saw an opportunity to counter the hate speech with something positive, as they covered the word “hate” with the word “love” so it reads “I love Mexicans.”
Now, Santos is gearing up to paint a mural on the wall where the graffiti was found, and it is uniting the community, he said.
He and other artists will gather at the paleteria at 394 E. Pipeline Road Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to start work on the mural.
“I am super excited about this,” Santos said. The mural will be “unveiled” on March 28.
Santos said he hopes those responsible were “confused kids” who will learn from their mistake.
Santos said he belongs to the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Chamber of Commerce, and he is involved with the HEB Leadership program. He proposed the mural as a community project, and the chamber accepted it.
Santillan said he organized a fundraiser on Facebook and raised $1,500 for the mural project.
“This really brought the community together. It really brought the Hispanic and white cultures together realizing that both are important,” Santillan said.
This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 6:00 AM.