Frank Rizzo mural is erased, as calls for racial justice bring change to Philly's Italian Market

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Shoppers visited the Italian Market Sunday to find a major change had come to the storied South Philadelphia row of butchers, cheesemongers and veggie stalls: The three-story visage of former Mayor Frank Rizzo that had long stared down the street from one of its busiest corners was gone.

“It was such an assault on the eyes,” Susan DiPronio, 70, said of the mural of the former mayor and police commissioner, which had been all but painted over as dawn broke hours earlier.
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“It was a horrible mural, he was a horrible person,” DiPronio, who works for a food wholesaler, said as she sipped a coffee from Gleaner’s Cafe across the street. “My eyes feel at peace now.”

The 25-year-old mural had been painted over as a national outcry over racial injustices and the killing of George Floyd renewed calls locally to stop glorifying the legacy of a mayor known for his aggressive treatment of the city’s black and gay communities.
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The mural’s removal came four days after the controversial 9-foot Rizzo statue was hauled away from the Municipal Services Building in Center City, where it became a focal point of protests. Before the massive bronze statue was taken down, protesters defaced it, attempted to set it ablaze, and tried to topple it themselves.

Shortly after the statue’s removal, Mural Arts Philadelphia said it would “cease all involvement” with the Rizzo mural.

“We know that the removal of this mural does not erase painful memories and are deeply apologetic for the amount of grief it has caused,” the group said in a statement Sunday morning, as its crews covered over the artwork with tan paint. “We believe this is a step in the right direction and hope to aid in healing our city through the power of thoughtful and inclusive public art.”


https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/frank-rizzo-mural-philadelphia-itlalian-market-removed-george-floyd-20200607.html