An Oakland mural depicting Native-American genocide was defaced. It led to a debate on the street.

OAKLAND — For nearly 20 years, Diane Williams has seethed whenever she walked by a street mural depicting the genocide of Ohlone people by Spanish colonizers — artwork she finds demeaning because the Native American men are depicted as fully nude.

Just this week, plans to remove the wall art were halted at the last minute, after tenants of the building’s apartments at 41st Street and Piedmont Avenue demanded that the history on display be left alone.

But on Friday morning, Williams finally had a reason to smile as she gazed at the mural. Someone had defaced it overnight with paper cutouts and red paint.

Now, the Franciscan missionaries oppressing the Native Americans in the painting had arrows piercing their heads and bodies. Blood spilled out of the white men. In the same red color, a