JEANERETTE, La. (KLFY) — Some Jeanerette residents say they want a mural depicting slavery in the city’s post office covered up.

The painting shows slaves working in a sugarcane field and hovers over the post office lobby.

Jeanerette Mayor Carol Bourgeois says the mural was painted in the 1940s and has been in the post office ever since.

Some residents say they’re pushing city officials to cover up the painting, but Mayor Bourgeois says that decision is not up the city.

He says because the post office is owned by the federal government, the city has no power to cover up the mural inside the building.

He says protestors must reach out to the federal government in order to have the painting covered up.