If you’re looking for the silver lining this week, it’s glowing a beautiful, bold shade of blended skin tones. We are moved and humbled by the unified voices for justice and human rights in the wake of the horrific murder of George Floyd.
We are also proud of the place the arts hold in paying tribute to the life of our lost brother and the countless Black victims and hundreds of years of oppression his death represents. Demonstration murals are becoming places of public gathering, solidarity, memorials, and maybe even some healing.
On the famous Graffiti Bridge in Pensacola, Florida, artwork typically lasts less than eight hours before being painted over by the next spray can-wielding expressionist. Recently an extraordinary image of George Floyd was painted on Graffiti Bridge, but shortly afterward was defamed with splashes of ugly brown paint that was intentionally racist. The artist repainted, and the mural has since been protected around the clock from vandals by the city’s people and has hosted peaceful demonstrations and candlelight vigils nightly.
No doubt this scene will soon dissipate as the bridge’s tradition of ever-changing illustrations returns. But for a brief moment there was a pause. Not because the art itself was more valuable than the life it represented, but it did what art is supposed to do: lay bare the human condition in all its forms.
Black America hears us when we all stand up and speak out for them. Help us listen, learn, and push your voice to the top. Stay strong, stay safe, stay well and spread love, DREAMERS.
Keep it DRMY ’til next week,
Surale + Laura + Cheryl
Research + Messaging + Design
If you don’t want different, you don’t want DRMTM.thedrmtm.com