A new piece of art in protest of the Dodgers is receiving much attention at Boyle Heights’ Distrito Catorce. Thousands have shared it across social media. People stop by the restaurant just to take a picture of it.
The painting on canvas by muralist Sergio Robleto is striking.
It features a masked ICE agent, in a Dodgers hat, escorting a handcuffed Fernando Valenzuela, the iconic Dodgers pitcher known for his “magic left hand.” Below the painting, a vinyl sticker on the wall declares: “I LOVE THE DODGERS. But I Love My Community More! Community Over Profit.”
On the surface, one can interpret the art as portraying racial profiling by immigration agents, emboldened enough to arrest someone as beloved as Valenzuela.
If you look closely, however, the agent’s uniform shows a badge with the name of Walter, as in Mark Walter, the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Walter is arresting and taking away what made me love baseball,” said Guillermo Piñon, a lifelong Dodgers fan and owner of Distrito Catorce, who conceptualized the piece with Robleto.
“This is Boyle Heights sh– right here. This is activism, and it’s pure,” Piñon said of the painting.
Piñon’s love for the Dodgers is tied to core memories with his father, who revered Valenzuela, but lately, he’s had to rethink his relationship to the team. Many, including Piñon, criticize the Dodgers and its leadership for not taking a stronger stance against the immigration raids that have terrorized LA since the beginning of summer.
The new painting hangs on the back wall of his restaurant after Piñon decided to remove Robleto’s previous mural that featured Valenzuela alongside Sandy Koufax and Dodgers broadcasting legend Jaime Jarrín. It’ll be there temporarily before a more permanent “community-oriented mural” takes its place.
An image of Jarrín, however, remains on the wall, juxtaposed with his statement in solidarity with immigrants.
“The Dodgers were really, really good to me and my family growing up, and I have a lot of awesome memories, but the past is the past,” said Piñon, 51. “I’m going to do the changes that I feel are needed to make sure that our community feels …honored, respected, and celebrated.”
In June, the Dodgers announced a $1 million contribution to support families of immigrants, but their statement did not acknowledge the raids. Their pledge came several days after Angel City FC and LAFC issued statements of solidarity, and amid growing pressure from civic groups, faith and labor leaders. A petition urged the team to “take a moral stand” against immigration enforcement in LA.
To Piñon, that message was deafening. “That was the worst thing they could have done, to say, ‘Here’s some money, shut up,’” he said.
As a kid, Piñon was actually forbidden from rooting for the Dodgers. Growing up in El Sereno, he said he had a neighbor who was among those whose families were displaced in Chavez Ravine, the area that was cleared to make way for Dodger Stadium, displacing generations of mostly Mexican American communities.
That changed when Valenzuela began playing for the team. “He was one of us,” Piñon said of Valenzuela.
Piñon had another connection to the famed Mexican pitcher. He said his father was an old friend of Mike Brito, the Dodgers scout who discovered Valenzuela. “We went from not being able to like the Dodgers or watch baseball, to all of a sudden just being all in,” he said.
Growing up, Piñon said he was terrified of ICE agents because his mom was undocumented. He can’t help but shed a tear talking about it.
“There’s so many core memories. Growing up the way I did was really, really hard. The Dodgers brought a sense of normalcy,” Piñon said. “It just feels ugly to have it taken away.”
Piñon said he understands why people continue to be all in for the Dodgers, especially if they’re born into being a fan of the team and are unaware of past injustices associated with the organization. “It makes it easier to say, ‘Who gives a sh– about what happened years ago?’” he said.
“But if we’re not careful about teaching the past, it repeats itself, and it’s happening now.”
Robleto, the artist, sees his piece as a “reflection of the struggle of the community coming to terms with the realities of ICE raids and their disappointment with how the Dodgers have responded.”
While it stings to paint over his own art, Robleto said, “all I could start imagining is something cooler going up on the wall.”
Robleto enjoys seeing his art generating discussion.
“Some people are taking it too literally, and they’re forgetting that art fuses symbolism and metaphors,” Robleto said. “There’s all these nuances, and I just encourage people to really look at it within the scope of art, and try to read between the lines … because it’s much deeper, more touching and more in line with creating empathy [rather] than division.”
“I’ve been a Dodgers fan, and of course, you want them to win. You want them to succeed. You want them to have a good season,” he added. “This is really just a call out to Mark Walter. There’s a reality going on, and you could be part of creating the awareness of it.”