On Saturday, June 13, 2026, the city of San Diego unveiled a restored "Black Family" statue at Neal Petties Mountain View Community Park, kicking off the neighborhood's Juneteenth celebrations with a powerful ceremony blending civic recognition, personal testimony, and ancestral remembrance.
The event drew community members, elected officials, and descendants of the original artist, and was marked by a libation ceremony led by Makeda Cheatom, founder and executive director of WorldBeat Cultural Center and Mountain View native, honoring ancestors and future generations alike.
County Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe declared June 13, 2026 "Black Family Statue Day" throughout San Diego County.
The original statue was created in 1974 by San Diego artist Rossie Wade, depicting two parents and their two children standing together in solidarity.
Crafted from wood, it deteriorated over the years and had disappeared by the mid-1980s, leaving behind only its brick base and a plaque and the memory of a beloved gathering place for generations of Mountain View residents. The restored version was re-created in stainless steel by Mike Bradbury, a welding professor at San Diego College of Continuing Education, and was funded through a state grant secured by then-Assemblymember Akilah Weber and managed by the city's Economic Development Department Cultural Affairs Division.
The road to restoration was a long one, spanning decades of community advocacy. JeffreyHayes is widely credited as the driving force behind the effort, with Paul Krueger stating simply, "If we're in debt to any one person, it's Jeffrey."
Wade's daughters, Carole Boyce and Lynn Wade Brown, attended the unveiling, Boyce reading an original poem she wrote for the occasion titled "The Black Family." The ceremony closed with Hayes expressing his enduring hope to see the park designated as a national monument, and his message to neighbors:
