Columbia mural highlighting diversity vandalized with racial slur, reward offered
A new mural intended to celebrate Columbia’s diversity was vandalized with a racial slur over the Fourth of July weekend, and the company that commissioned it is now offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the identification of whoever did it.
Overnight Thursday, someone scrawled “Kill All (N-word)“ on the unfinished mural on the former Palmetto Promotions building at 1314 Rosewood Drive next to the railroad trestle. The building is being renovated by Realty Haven, a Columbia-based real estate firm that plans to make the location its new home.
The mural, which will eventually stretch completely around the building, features bold colors meant to echo and align with the colors of sunrise and sunset on the building, artist McClellan Douglas said.
Titled “A Southern Affair,” the mural features large likenesses of more than a dozen people from Columbia and South Carolina — friends and acquaintances of the artist and Realty Haven officials. They include Afro-futurist artist Cedric Umoja and Douglas’ grandfather, Joseph William “Billy” Douglas, who was a brigadier general in the S.C. National Guard and a former Columbia postmaster.
“I wanted to show the South as I see it, diverse in culture,” Douglas said. “It’s not often portrayed that way.”
Douglas, a Columbia native who also painted the Crawfish Festival mural on Rosewood Drive and the Bob Marley mural on the Natural Vibrations store in Five Points, said he was angry when he first found out about the vandalism.
“But then I got concerned,” he said. “Not only for the community, but also for the person who did it. I hope it was just some stupid kid.”
The mural is the brain child of Realty Haven CEO Lauren Taylor and her fiance’ and business partner, Dustin Dreher. They were visiting Miami and were impressed by the Wynwood Walls urban graffiti project there, which also focuses on diversity.
In addition to people, the mural will also include South Carolina features like the state bird, the Carolina wren, and state flower, the yellow jessamine.
“We want to show the beauty and diversity South Carolina has to offer,” Taylor said.
They also wanted to show “silent solidarity” with heightened social justice efforts in the wake of Floyd’s death, by first painting the images of African Americans..
The mural is also intended to bring awareness to a non-profit affordable housing project the company is launching called Haven Homes. The company is seeking 501(c)3 status for a program to renovate single-family homes with rents topping out at $600 to $900.
The project would also have an educational component to provide training on such topics as credit management that would allow the renters to eventually transition into home ownership,” said Matthew Crawford, Realty Haven’s director of business development.
Columbia’s rental market is spiking, he said, ”and we are trying to combat that institutional gentrification by creating quality products that will let (people) afford the lives they want to live — workforce housing.”
Taylor said she was shocked when she found out about the vandalism, and decided to post the $5,000 award for identification of the individual or individuals. She, too, hopes it was done by kids.
“We want the party to be held accountable, but we want to move on and keep the message positive,” she said.
The vandalism has since been repaired and the mural is expected to be finished in two or three weeks, Douglas said.
Anyone with information about the vandalism should contact the Richland County Sheriff’s Department or Midlands Crime Stoppers.