Trump graffiti defaces Chapel Hill mural

Chapel Hill muralist Michael Brown discovered one of his murals had been vandalized when a television reporter contacted him on Thursday morning.

The mural –– located on the side of Carolina Coffee Shop in Porthole Alley off of Franklin Street –– had the word “Trump” painted over it in yellow spray paint. 

“I’m not happy about it, but it’s not the first time,” Brown said. “I’ve been painting these things for the better part of my life, this isn’t my first rodeo and this isn’t the first time it’s happened.”

Brown said he has been painting murals in the Chapel Hill area for about 16 years, and his murals get vandalized every four or five years.

“Sometimes you get hit by left-wingers and this time we got hit by right-wingers,” Brown said.

Brown has not filed a police report, but he said he plans to. He said he has never pressed charges before, but this one is a much larger incident than previous incidents.

“I’m not going to let this stand,” Brown said. “Not by a long shot.”

He said he plans to fix the mural as soon as possible and that the process should take about one day.

In addition to painting murals, Brown said he also works, so it’s difficult for him to find time to remove the graffiti.

“You can’t just leave it because it attracts more (vandalism),” he said. “Somebody may hate Trump and they’ll write something over that, and then there’s twice as much work for me.”

To fix the mural, Brown said he first must scrub off some of the spray paint, but it likely left a stain. He said he’ll have to match the paint colors and re-establish the lines of the mural.

The mural is known in Chapel Hill as “Parade of Humanity,” though Brown said he doesn’t title his murals. 

“You wait a year, and the thing will have a title the public has given it,” Brown said. “I just let it happen.”

UNC senior Emily Garrity said it was disrespectful for someone to express their political beliefs by defacing the mural. 

“The murals around Chapel Hill add to its character and it’s sad that someone felt the need to vandalize one of them,” she said.

Brittany Brewington, assistant manager of Carolina Coffee Shop, said she spoke with Brown on Thursday afternoon. She said people always come in and ask about the mural and what it means.

“I feel like it was a drunken mistake, but I don’t understand, even if you are drunk, why you would mess up someone else’s work,” she said.

Despite the work ahead of him, Brown said he is trying to remain positive about the situation.

“This one is ‘yuge,’ really tremendous,” Brown said. “I’m trying to keep a sense of humor about it; that and fix it.”

@janelittle26

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