Southwestern College honored muralist Salvador Barajas, 77, awarding him the college’s highest honor, the 2021 honorary degree for his historical and inspirational contributions in Chicano Park and national arts community. He began this work in 1974, when he joined a group of muralists, changing the fate of Chicano Park forever.
Barajas said he became involved right after he came to San Diego and learned how the development of Interstate 5 and the Coronado bridge forced more than 5,000 people out of Barrio Logan. He said the “Chicano Park Takeover” had already happened, where a student from San Diego City College gathered students and community members together in April 1970, and took the park by force, commandeered a bulldozer and began flattening the land as others planted cactus, plants and trees to create a park, while women and children created human chains around the bulldozers, completely stopping the construction of a Highway Patrol station.
In January 2017, the park was designated as a National Historical Monument.
Barajas said after that, the community woke up to what was happening in Barrio Logan and that the community had been neglected since its beginnings in the early 1900s.
“It is very sad what happened to that community, so we took part in helping the community express our feelings and letting San Diego and the rest of the world know that we were not happy with what was going on,” he said.
Barajas said local media did not do a good job at covering what was happening in the Barrio, because at that time, San Diego was very Republican, and they had a different perspective of what this community needed.
“Many times, they were not even aware of what was going on because of the lack of political representation from the city and the state, and people had no idea what was happening to the community behind closed doors, and that was very sad,” he said. “I came to San Diego at the time when they needed artists to start helping to express their feelings and their interpretations. And that is what we did in 1973 when we started painting the first two ramps.”
Barajas said they took it upon themselves to start painting the messages and images that portrayed their frustration of the city and the state, and to let them know that Barrio Logan was not going to sit still and take more punishment that it had received for decades.
“Chicano Park and the murals transformed the community,” he said. “The murals created the awareness with people coming in from all over the world wanting to learn what really happened in that community. The murals are not pretty. They are not the typical pictorial kind of ornamental art, but it is expressive of the history of Barrio Logan, the people that live there, and the gentrification of the area and lack of governmental representation. Each one of them has a message.”
Barajas’ first brush strokes were on “Historical Mural,” which celebrates Chicano and Latino heroes and icons. Since then, Barajas has painted three murals in Chicano Park and has spent more than 50 years fighting for their historical status and being a representative for one of the most important Chicano communities in the country. In 2012, Barajas was part of the team that helped restore the “Historical Mural” on 2024 Logan Ave.
Barajas said he was humbled and excited about the honorary degree and owed SWC’s journalism professor Dr. Max Branscomb, who nominated him for the distinct honor.
“He was one of the first that started working with us, controversial artists,” he said. “We are activist artists. We get involved in community issues. I appreciate that Dr. Max teaches students things like that this that you will not find, even at four year colleges. Southwestern is an outstanding school.”
Branscomb said it was an honor to nominate Barajas in a press release.
“He has made a profound and permanent impact on our community, is an inspiration to members of our college community, and is a hero to countless Chicanos/Latinos as well as people who value multiculturalism in our region,” he stated. “He is also a kind, generous and decent man who is a role model and inspirational figure. Like his favorite canvases, he is a pillar in nuestra tierra.”
Barajas is one of the most represented artists in Chicano Park and at 77 years old, he is making plans on his next mural in the park, commissioned by Gente Unida, a human rights border coalition.
