Parkland victim’s dad creates gun-control mural
BY GABE HERMAN
A new mural on a Chelsea
building honors
the victims of last
year’s Parkland school shooting
and calls for awareness
and action about the ongoing
issue of gun violence in
America.
The mural was created
by Manuel Oliver, father of
Joaquin Oliver, a student at
Marjory Stoneman Douglas
High School in Parkland,
Florida, who was one of the
17 victims of the shooting on
Feb. 14 of last year.
The artwork is on W. 29th
St., just west of Sixth Ave.,
on the side of a building, taking
up a big billboard-sized
space.
The piece shows a Cupidlike
fi gure aiming a gun at a
heart-shaped balloon with a
big number 17 in the middle
of it. The words “You Stole
My Heart” are in the middle
of the mural.
Toward the bottom it
reads, “Joaquin Oliver Rest
In Power,” and also “Change
the Ref,” which is an organization
started by Manuel and
his wife, Joaquin’s mother,
Patricia, to remember the
victims and advocate for gun
control in America.
“I have been trying to be
very graphic,” Manuel Oliver
said at a press conference in
the city the day the mural
went up. It will remain there
in Chelsea for at least one
month, according to PIX11.
“I need to make people
understand, it doesn’t matter
how much it hurts, we have a
problem,” he said.
He has made other murals
honoring his son and addressing
America’s gun violence,
including a one with
a portrait of Joaquin and the
words “We Demand Change”
in big letters. And recently,
Manuel painted on the Mexican
border wall, including a
portrait of his son and Spanish
writing that translates to,
“On the other side, they also
kill our children.”
At the press conference,
Patricia Oliver said the mission
of Change the Ref included
trying to “change
these politicians, or these
people, that are not aligned
with what we are looking for,
which is gun control.”
Joaquin Oliver in December 2017 in a photo from his Instagram account.
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
Manuel Oliver created the mural in honor of his son,
who was killed in the Parkland shooting last year.
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
A view of the mural looking along W. 29th St.
6 February 21, 2019 CNW Schneps Media