By Stephen Golub… “Lots of questions swirl around the crime….”
By Stephen Golub, Benicia resident and author, “Benicia and Beyond” column in the Benicia Herald, September 6, 2026
Perhaps you’ve seen the “Hate Has No Home Here” sign outside some Benicia homes. It signals that the household treasures tolerance over bigotry, inclusion over exclusion, and love over hate.
Benicia made a related statement with our Police Department’s August 31 arrest of Vallejo resident Esa Gabriel Makei for the defacement of the inspiring “Together We Rise” mural, which is located on the alley bordering First Street’s NY2CA Gallery. On the night of August 26, Makei allegedly painted over the part of the mural that specifically highlights such sentiments as love, peace, hope, belonging, kindness, diversity and inclusion.
Makei was identified (and found with a spray paint can inside his car) via the use of surveillance video and Flock license plate reader cameras. An NBC Bay Area article reports that he confessed to the act and “faces charges of felony vandalism and a misdemeanor hate crime.” Kudos to the police for catching the likely culprit.
Lots of questions swirl around the crime. For one thing, since that same spot was defaced in July (though in a different manner), was Makei the perpetrator in both incidents?
Regardless, why did he apparently commit the August 26 crime, especially since he reportedly is himself an artist and muralist? Was something hateful or hurtful going on in his head or life? Was it hate generally directed toward love and the mural’s other positive elements? Or was it particularly aimed against the LGBTQ community, since aspects of the targeted section could be interpreted as especially supporting such groups?
The fact that Makei has been charged with a hate crime could reflect that particular focus. As reported by a fine online Benicia Bridge article (published before the suspect was apprehended), the California Department of Justice defines a hate crime as “a crime against a person, group, or property motivated by the victim’s real or perceived protected social group.” You don’t even have to interpret the vandalism that way to see how un-American the act was; it attacked art, certainly, but also free speech and many values we all share.
The incident itself was certainly not good news. But it is profoundly good that many Benicians have rallied around the mural, as well as around artist Wendy Buresh, who designed the defaced section, and NY2CA owner Vickie Marchand, who commissioned and was a moving force behind this moving, beautiful addition to the Benicia scene and spirit.
Speaking of which, Marchand’s admirable comments on the crime reflect the compassion and tolerance the “Together We Rise” mural embodies. As reported by the Benicia Bridge article, she said that “I really would love to have a conversation with this person, to kind of say, ‘How can we help you? What can we do so that you have some hope because it seems like it’s gone.’”
That’s not to say that she or others don’t want to see Makei punished if he’s convicted. I certainly do. But perhaps there’s also a restorative justice angle to pursue – not mutually exclusive with punishment – through which he could give back something positive to the community on which he allegedly unleashed such a hateful act.
For right now, though, we can be thankful that the probable perpetrator was caught, that the great majority of Benicians choose love over hate, and that we have people like Buresh and Marchand to restore the damaged art in the spirit of the rising Phoenix it represents.
As Marchand has observed, “We’re going through an uncertain time in our nation, and this mural was supposed to give hope. It was supposed to be a piece of art that moved you.”
It does give hope and it does move us. Here’s to love triumphing over hate. Here’s to Benicia and America rising to meet our challenges.
Because hate must have no home here.
Stephen Golub writes about democracy and politics, both in America and abroad, at A Promised Land: America as a Developing Country.
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