An organization called Colorado Asian Pacific Unite (CAPU) is currently creating a mural meant to honor the city’s historic Chinatown. According to ABC 7 Denver, the mural will be located on the side of Fire Station #4 just steps away from what was once a bustling Chinatown.
In 1880, many Chinese American-owned businesses in Denver’s Chinatown were destroyed by a white mob. For years, according to Denverite, the only thing commemorating the race riot was a plaque that largely told the story from a white perspective. Last year, the city removed the plaque and apologized for its role in the destruction.
CAPU was behind most of the efforts to remove the offensive plaque. Now they’re helping create a mural that they hope will do right by the Asian American community in Denver.
“This mural is a way for us to physically, and metaphorically in a way, reclaim this space and let folks know what this place used to be like,” Joie Ha, Vice Chair on the CAPU board and mural project manager, told Denverite.
CAPU held a competition to choose a mural concept and selected Hmong American artist Nalye Lor. Lor’s colorful mural will honor the past, present and future of Chinatown.
“The color was super important because I wanted the image to be happy and fun and really match what Denver is today. It’s representing a timeline from the past, present and future. It was inspired by Long Life Noodles,” Lor told ABC 7 Denver. “I wanted people to also move their eye with the image. Then we have the silhouettes that represent ancestors that were here before, as well as the ones who will be here in the future, and the ones who are currently here now.”
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