The Next Chapter for the Great Wall of Los Angeles
As history repeats itself, stories in the Great Wall of Los Angeles can empower students in high school and college today. Panels depicting mass deportations and strikes against low wages, for example, inspire today's Latino youth struggling for access to education. In restoring the Great Wall, historic battles for equality against injustice are refreshed in the public conscience and give context to contemporary issues like the DREAM Act.
The mural represents a timeline, from prehistory up until the 1950s. History, however, is made daily. According to SPARC, an extension of the Great Wall is underway with preliminary digital artwork and narratives from the 1960s to the 1990s currently in the works. Extending the timeline of history will inform the communities of the cycles of history, from which to learn and draw strength. It will give voice to the events and people that shaped our country, pointing towards a future in which our children can learn from the past.