The group had received permission from former County Executive Janet S. Owens to display the mural on the exterior wall of the county government's main building. But Leopold refused to display the piece, calling it "inappropriate and too busy."
Leopold also said that doing so would set an unwanted precedent and offered instead to install the work by African-American artist George "Lassie" Belt and 15 local children inside the building.
His action prompted an outcry among local African-Americans and the state conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. County schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell offered to display the mural on the outside of a school or a system administrative building.
