Advocates call for hate crime charges for woman who defaced Pilsen mural
Chicago Tribune (archive.ph)
By Sophie Levenson
2025-06-19 01:48:29GMT
A vandalized mural along 16th Street near Ashland Avenue in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood on June 18, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
A nonprofit civil rights advocacy group called Wednesday for hate crime charges to be brought against a woman accused of attacking another woman, who caught her defacing a painting of a Palestinian man on a mural in the Pilsen neighborhood.
Natalie Figueroa said she was walking home from her workplace late Friday when she noticed a woman defacing the mural on 16th Street and Ashland Avenue. When Figueroa tried to interfere, the woman struck her in the head with a metal three-hole punch and pummeled her face. Onlookers called the police, who arrived at the scene but made no arrests.
Representatives at CAIR-Chicago, which advocates for civil rights for Muslims, urged Chicago police to charge the suspect with aggravated assault and a hate crime. Various speakers at the news conference lamented the desecration of a mural that they saw as a symbol of peace.
No arrests had been made in the alleged attack, police said Wednesday evening.
The mural, painted by Palestinian artist Taqi Spateen, depicts a Mexican man lying in a field with a Palestinian man, and is meant to represent solidarity between the Latino and Palestinian communities. The woman who vandalized the artwork burned off the section depicting the Palestinian man’s face.
“Here in Chicago, we are seeing a significant escalation of hate crimes rooted in anti-Islamic and anti-Arab sentiment,” said Heena Musabji, legal director at CAIR. “We are here to demand … that criminal actions based on hate are charged as actual hate crimes.”
A still-bruised Figueroa, who sported a sizable lump on her forehead, told reporters she approached the woman and yelled at her to stop defacing the mural. The woman, she said, swung around with a metal three-hole punch in her hand and hit Figueroa on her head.
As the women fought, Figueroa ended up on the ground, the other woman pinning her down and repeatedly pummeling her face. Figueroa said that her assailant taunted her during the attack, jeering that police would not arrest her.
So far, Figueroa has been unable to prove her wrong. CAIR’s news conference urged Chicago police to arrest the suspect, who, according to Figueroa, walked away from the scene after police had arrived and was not followed.
Four days after the attack, Figueroa still had two black eyes and a bruised left arm. Arriving at her job at the event space Hoste on Wednesday morning, she said, she was confronted with “Nazi symbols” spraypainted on the building. She believes them to be related to Friday’s incident.
A detail from the vandalized mural along 16th Street near Ashland Avenue in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood on June 18, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Human rights attorney Farah Chalisa is working in partnership with the legal team at CAIR to represent Figueroa and another victim, who was attacked by the same woman at the same mural in May.
“What happened was not simply an act of vandalism — it was a hate-driven assault,” Chalisa said.
A hate crime charge is a Class 4 felony in Illinois.
Spateen’s mural was commissioned as part of the Mural Movement, founded in 2020 by Delilah Martinez. All 231 murals Martinez has organized nationwide are related to social justice and peace. Spateen is from Bethlehem, a Palestinian town, and is staying in Chicago as part of an art residency. His mural, one of dozens in Pilsen, is the only work that the suspect has defaced. According to Figueroa and the other victim, she has thrown trash at the mural and placed feces around it.
“This mural — if that’s not an artwork of love, I don’t know what love is,” said CAIR Executive Director Ahmed Rehab. “The defacing of that mural — if that’s not an act of hate, I don’t know what hate is.”
Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez, 25th, explained that many people in Pilsen view the attacker as a threat. Last week, Lopez said, she showed up at a community meeting wearing a wig and sunglasses and prompted Lopez’s staff to call security.
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Woman wants her attacker charged after stopping vandalism of Palestinian mural in Pilsen
Chicago Sun-Times (archive.ph)
By Cindy Hernandez
2025-06-19 02:07:42GMT
Natalie Figueroa wonders why Chicago police officers did not stop her attacker from walking away in Pilsen.
Figueroa says she was riding her bike Friday night when she saw a woman vandalizing a mural near 16th Street and Ashland Avenue. The mural depicts a Mexican man and a Palestinian man resting peacefully in a field.
Figueroa said the woman painted “Israel” in large letters over the mural. The woman burnt off the face of the Palestinian man and spread feces on the wall and sidewalk, she said.
Figueroa said the woman was wearing an EMT uniform and yelled, “You’re welcome. I fixed it.”
The confrontation turned into an argument before the woman assaulted Figueroa, she told reporters in a news conference Wednesday at the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Figueroa and community leaders called on police to arrest the woman and file charges.
“I kept asking her, ‘What is wrong with you? Why are you doing this?’ And she started screaming back at me,” said Figueroa, 42.
Natalie Figueroa after she was attacked in Pilsen on Friday night. Provided
The argument turned physical when the woman grabbed a metal hole puncher and hit Figueroa in the face and head, she said. The woman knocked her down and straddled her chest, Figueroa said.
A passersby called the police. When officers arrived, the woman got off her chest and walked away, Figueroa said.
“I kept telling the officers to go after her, but instead they just kept questioning me,” she said. “I begged them. I told them that she had just attacked me, that she vandalized the mural and I got it on video. But they just asked to see the video.”
By the time officers watched the video, the woman was gone.
“Why would they just let her walk away?” said Figueroa, who still wore two black eyes and a bump on her forehead.
Natalie Figueroa suffered two black eyes after she was attacked in Pilsen on Friday night. Provided
The same woman has attacked residents in the neighborhood, speakers said Wednesday.
Last month, a 24-year-old who identified themselves as Laith said the same woman attacked her after she caught her throwing trash near the same mural. Laith said she filed a police report but the woman was not charged.
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) said the same woman tried to intimidate his chief of staff at a community meeting last week.
“When we see discrimination in the difference of response, depending on who is the victim, it’s unacceptable. So I am calling on the Chicago Police Department and every single city official to condemn this act of violence,” Lopez said.
Chicago police on Wednesday said no charges had been filed in Figueroa’s attack. Police added that the offender fled. Police would not comment further about the case.
The mural was painted in May by Taqi Spateen, an artist from Bethlehem, Palestine. It was commissioned by The Mural Movement, which aims to transform communities through art and activism.
Founder Delilah Martinez said the mural represents the solidarity of Mexicans and Palestinians, both of which have struggled.
Much of the alleged attacker’s paint has been removed, but the mural is still not fully restored, Martinez said.
A photo of the Palestinian man on the mural before it was vandalized Provided
Chicago Tribune (archive.ph)
By Sophie Levenson
2025-06-19 01:48:29GMT
A vandalized mural along 16th Street near Ashland Avenue in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood on June 18, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
A nonprofit civil rights advocacy group called Wednesday for hate crime charges to be brought against a woman accused of attacking another woman, who caught her defacing a painting of a Palestinian man on a mural in the Pilsen neighborhood.
Natalie Figueroa said she was walking home from her workplace late Friday when she noticed a woman defacing the mural on 16th Street and Ashland Avenue. When Figueroa tried to interfere, the woman struck her in the head with a metal three-hole punch and pummeled her face. Onlookers called the police, who arrived at the scene but made no arrests.
Representatives at CAIR-Chicago, which advocates for civil rights for Muslims, urged Chicago police to charge the suspect with aggravated assault and a hate crime. Various speakers at the news conference lamented the desecration of a mural that they saw as a symbol of peace.
No arrests had been made in the alleged attack, police said Wednesday evening.
The mural, painted by Palestinian artist Taqi Spateen, depicts a Mexican man lying in a field with a Palestinian man, and is meant to represent solidarity between the Latino and Palestinian communities. The woman who vandalized the artwork burned off the section depicting the Palestinian man’s face.
“Here in Chicago, we are seeing a significant escalation of hate crimes rooted in anti-Islamic and anti-Arab sentiment,” said Heena Musabji, legal director at CAIR. “We are here to demand … that criminal actions based on hate are charged as actual hate crimes.”
A still-bruised Figueroa, who sported a sizable lump on her forehead, told reporters she approached the woman and yelled at her to stop defacing the mural. The woman, she said, swung around with a metal three-hole punch in her hand and hit Figueroa on her head.
As the women fought, Figueroa ended up on the ground, the other woman pinning her down and repeatedly pummeling her face. Figueroa said that her assailant taunted her during the attack, jeering that police would not arrest her.
So far, Figueroa has been unable to prove her wrong. CAIR’s news conference urged Chicago police to arrest the suspect, who, according to Figueroa, walked away from the scene after police had arrived and was not followed.
Four days after the attack, Figueroa still had two black eyes and a bruised left arm. Arriving at her job at the event space Hoste on Wednesday morning, she said, she was confronted with “Nazi symbols” spraypainted on the building. She believes them to be related to Friday’s incident.
A detail from the vandalized mural along 16th Street near Ashland Avenue in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood on June 18, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Human rights attorney Farah Chalisa is working in partnership with the legal team at CAIR to represent Figueroa and another victim, who was attacked by the same woman at the same mural in May.
“What happened was not simply an act of vandalism — it was a hate-driven assault,” Chalisa said.
A hate crime charge is a Class 4 felony in Illinois.
Spateen’s mural was commissioned as part of the Mural Movement, founded in 2020 by Delilah Martinez. All 231 murals Martinez has organized nationwide are related to social justice and peace. Spateen is from Bethlehem, a Palestinian town, and is staying in Chicago as part of an art residency. His mural, one of dozens in Pilsen, is the only work that the suspect has defaced. According to Figueroa and the other victim, she has thrown trash at the mural and placed feces around it.
“This mural — if that’s not an artwork of love, I don’t know what love is,” said CAIR Executive Director Ahmed Rehab. “The defacing of that mural — if that’s not an act of hate, I don’t know what hate is.”
Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez, 25th, explained that many people in Pilsen view the attacker as a threat. Last week, Lopez said, she showed up at a community meeting wearing a wig and sunglasses and prompted Lopez’s staff to call security.
---
Woman wants her attacker charged after stopping vandalism of Palestinian mural in Pilsen
Chicago Sun-Times (archive.ph)
By Cindy Hernandez
2025-06-19 02:07:42GMT
Natalie Figueroa wonders why Chicago police officers did not stop her attacker from walking away in Pilsen.
Figueroa says she was riding her bike Friday night when she saw a woman vandalizing a mural near 16th Street and Ashland Avenue. The mural depicts a Mexican man and a Palestinian man resting peacefully in a field.
Figueroa said the woman painted “Israel” in large letters over the mural. The woman burnt off the face of the Palestinian man and spread feces on the wall and sidewalk, she said.
Figueroa said the woman was wearing an EMT uniform and yelled, “You’re welcome. I fixed it.”
The confrontation turned into an argument before the woman assaulted Figueroa, she told reporters in a news conference Wednesday at the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Figueroa and community leaders called on police to arrest the woman and file charges.
“I kept asking her, ‘What is wrong with you? Why are you doing this?’ And she started screaming back at me,” said Figueroa, 42.
Natalie Figueroa after she was attacked in Pilsen on Friday night. Provided
The argument turned physical when the woman grabbed a metal hole puncher and hit Figueroa in the face and head, she said. The woman knocked her down and straddled her chest, Figueroa said.
A passersby called the police. When officers arrived, the woman got off her chest and walked away, Figueroa said.
“I kept telling the officers to go after her, but instead they just kept questioning me,” she said. “I begged them. I told them that she had just attacked me, that she vandalized the mural and I got it on video. But they just asked to see the video.”
By the time officers watched the video, the woman was gone.
“Why would they just let her walk away?” said Figueroa, who still wore two black eyes and a bump on her forehead.
Natalie Figueroa suffered two black eyes after she was attacked in Pilsen on Friday night. Provided
The same woman has attacked residents in the neighborhood, speakers said Wednesday.
Last month, a 24-year-old who identified themselves as Laith said the same woman attacked her after she caught her throwing trash near the same mural. Laith said she filed a police report but the woman was not charged.
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) said the same woman tried to intimidate his chief of staff at a community meeting last week.
“When we see discrimination in the difference of response, depending on who is the victim, it’s unacceptable. So I am calling on the Chicago Police Department and every single city official to condemn this act of violence,” Lopez said.
Chicago police on Wednesday said no charges had been filed in Figueroa’s attack. Police added that the offender fled. Police would not comment further about the case.
The mural was painted in May by Taqi Spateen, an artist from Bethlehem, Palestine. It was commissioned by The Mural Movement, which aims to transform communities through art and activism.
Founder Delilah Martinez said the mural represents the solidarity of Mexicans and Palestinians, both of which have struggled.
Much of the alleged attacker’s paint has been removed, but the mural is still not fully restored, Martinez said.
A photo of the Palestinian man on the mural before it was vandalized Provided
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