Pullman End Racism Now Mural – What’s Going On?

PULLMAN, WASH –Mei Lin was super excited to hear that her mural won an “End Racism Now” vote in Pullman.

“I received a lot of positive and very very kind and very supportive reviews, comments, and really long letters from people who live in Pullman,” Lin said.

Once the Pullman Arts Commission announced the winner, word spread across Pullman what the new mural is supposed to be. Then, the Commission gave its suggestions to the Pullman City Council

However, after Pullman City Council’s last meeting, they decided to start at square one with the mural because there wasn’t supposed to be a vote:

“We had a lot of people, then, assumed that this was a popular vote. The Pullman Arts Commission works as an advisory capacity to the city council. By saying the word vote, then it became something totally different than it was,” Pullman City Councilmember Brandon Chapman said.

And because of the vote, people believe that the Pullman City Council isn’t honoring the winner, leading to backlash from the community

“Online and social media are saying  “hey, how come Pullman City Council’s refusing this Black Lives Matter mural?” Well, we weren’t. We weren’t refusing it, we didn’t have a chance to refuse it,” Chapman said. 

Because of the confusion and miscommunication on the mural selection process, the city decided to start over

“I move that we form a three councilmember sub-committee to clarify the objectives for a mural that promotes harmony, unity, and awareness for consideration,” Pullman City Councilmember Eileen Macoll said.

The committee met and are working on a new plan, which instead of a whole mural, possibly having art panels that can be switched out every year which would be revealed right after Juneteenth. The city is currently figuring out how to select an artist for the project.

Even with a new start, is the city too late getting this project completed?

“The community voting, all the social drama, I don’t feel comfortable to continue working on this project,” Lin said.

Mei Lin was super excited to hear that her mural won an “End Racism Now” vote in Pullman.

“I received a lot of positive and very very kind and very supportive reviews, comments, and really long letters from people who live in Pullman,” Lin said.

Once the Pullman Arts Commission announced the winner, word spread across Pullman what the new mural is supposed to be. Then, the Commission gave its suggestions to the Pullman City Council

However, after Pullman City Council’s last meeting, they decided to start at square one with the mural because there wasn’t supposed to be a vote:

“We had a lot of people, then, assumed that this was a popular vote. The Pullman Arts Commission works as an advisory capacity to the city council. By saying the word vote, then it became something totally different than it was,” Pullman City Councilmember Brandon Chapman said.

And because of the vote, people believe that the Pullman City Council isn’t honoring the winner, leading to backlash from the community

“Online and social media are saying  “hey, how come Pullman City Council’s refusing this Black Lives Matter mural?” Well, we weren’t. We weren’t refusing it, we didn’t have a chance to refuse it,” Chapman said. 

Because of the confusion and miscommunication on the mural selection process, the city decided to start over

“I move that we form a three councilmember sub-committee to clarify the objectives for a mural that promotes harmony, unity, and awareness for consideration,” Pullman City Councilmember Eileen Macoll said.

The committee met and are working on a new plan, which instead of a whole mural, possibly having art panels that can be switched out every year which would be revealed right after Juneteenth. The city is currently figuring out how to select an artist for the project.

Even with a new start, is the city too late getting this project completed?

“The community voting, all the social drama, I don’t feel comfortable to continue working on this project,” Lin said.