Contributed Photo
A second Black Lives Matter street mural drew in yet another large crowd of New Haveners from all over to help bring the message to life, this time on Temple Street.
Volunteers gathered to paint the mural on Saturday. It was the second one in a series of eight total art installments that are being planned for all over New Haven.
The collaborators making the projects happen are the City of New Haven Department of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Black Lives Matter New Haven, community organizers, and local artists.
As the weather gets colder. Black Lives Matter New Haven member Sy Fraser said, the next project is being planned for 2021. Each mural in the series will have its own New Haven artist vibe.
This time around the Downtown mural was designed by three local artist known as Jesse Wolf, Marshun, and Perez.
The idea for a public art project emphasizing the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement grew out of a conversation each partner was already having separately before coming together.
Maya McFadden Photo
“This is peace, happiness, and love,” said Fraser.
The community work began at 8 a.m Saturday with a layer of black paint for each letter.
At first the artists were told they could use only yellow paint. This limitation was later changed to include black and white paint as well.
Volunteers registered in advanced and on the spot for a one-hour time block to work alongside the artists. Organizers worked to limit the working crowd to 100 with 10 people assigned to one letter at a time.
Both the Newhallville and Temple Street murals were planned at the same time. Originally the plan was to start with the Temple Street mural, then move into the neighborhoods. Then Black Lives Matter co-founders Sun Queen and Ala Ochumare convinced the organizing team to start in the neighborhood they grew up in.
Perez, Jesse Wolf, and Marshun.
As a street artist Perez suggested the mural be designed like graffiti. The team decided to go more simple.
To make the design simple for the volunteers helping, the team of artists decided to keep all the letters blocked and empty, except the first letters of each word. Each artist took one of the three letters to design as their own.
The artists and organizers gathered on Friday around 11 p.m until nearly 2 a.m. laying down tape for the mural. The group then returned at 6 a.m to prep the paint buckets and other tools needed for volunteers.
Perez (whose full name is Carlos Perez) volunteered at the Bassett Street mural in September. During that first mural project, Sun Queen said, she instantly noticed “passion, love, and good vibes” radiating from Perez, causing her to look him up on social media. After finding his work on Instagram she reached out to him with the idea of a partnership for the Temple Street project.
Perez designed the B in “Black” with powerful and postive words like justice, incusion, fairness, and freedom in white paint. “My hope is that when people see those words, they act them out,” he said.
After finishing the words on the letter B, Perez added some last-minute light splatters of white paint over the words.
Marsh “Marshun” John designed the L in “Lives” with her own positive symbols of the Black community. She started with a symbol of a heartbeat to represent that “we are the source of life,” she said. Then a spread of sunflowers which she recalled always moving in the direction of the sun. “We are the sun,” Marshun said. “We bring the light even in the darkest of moments.” Marshun’s topped her letter off with her signature symbol of a crown.
Marshun painted on Saturday with her grandmother in mind. Her grandmother, who passed in 2013, was big on community. “I know this would make her proud. Just look at the community we’ve made here today,” she said. “I feel privileged.”
Wolf, who thought up his design for the M of “Matter” Saturday morning, described the project as “dope as fuck.” Inside his letter Wolf painted a hooded Black man with one hand up and the other in a raised fist.
Wolf decided on the symbol of the hooded man to represent Black men like himself who can’t wear a hoodie without being racially profiled and stereotyped as dangerous. Wolf recalled being stopped by police in New Haven a month ago while walking to Burger King. Wolf said the police stopped him with their guns drawn on Whalley Avenue while in search of a Black suspect with braids and a red shirt. Wolf, who does not have braids but dreadlocks, said the many ways that night could have played out replayed in his mind while working on his design.
“New Haven is no different than these other places, and that’s what people don’t get,” said Fraser. “Police brutality here is just swept under the rug and not televised. And people here don’t pull out there phones like in other places.”
During an open mic intermission, community members expressed their support for the movement through dancing and spoken word.
After the open mic, Sun Queen took the microphone to show appreciation, love, and support for 22-year-old Stephanie Washington, who joined in on painting the mural. She and partner Paul Witherspoonwere fired at by Yale and Hamden police while unarmed during a traffic stop last year. Washington’s spine was fractured from the 16 rounds fired at the car.
“You are me, and I am you,” Sun Queen said to Washington while hugging at the microphone. “We screamed and marched for five days straight for you.”
Sun Queen and Stephanie Washington.
Sun Queen said althought she has wanted to, she didn’t think she would ever get to meet Washington. “She reminded me why i do this. We are more than hashtags,” she said.
Sun Queen and Washington exhcnaged numbers to remain in contact. Sun Queen offered her the help of Black Lives Matter New Haven whenever needed.
Sun Queen and Ochumare led the crowd in some call-and-response chants like “Justice for Stephanie and Paul,” followed by the chant by Assata Shakur:
It is our duty to fight for our freedom /
It is our duty to win /
We must love each other and support each other /
We have nothing to lose but our chains …
University of New Haven (UNH) student Reah Thompson, 21, volunteered with her friends Shania Wauchope, 21 and Kaylib Negron, 24.
“This feels like unity,” said Wauchope.
Thompson came out to support Black Lives Matter New Haven. Originally from New York, Thompson said, she has been seeking out opportunities like Saturday’s to get to know the community.
“As a Black woman, having to explain why my life matters is hard and can be discourging at times,” Thompson said.
“There’s blood on these streets,” said Negron of Ugly Radio. The mural does not cover up this blood, but highlights it. “Change and diversity is on its way,” he said.
Organizers invited five black-owned vendors to sell their merchandise at the event. Buisnesses included: Alana Ladson Art, Jazz’s Beauty Bar, Saffyre Herbal Butter, Sphinx’s Flowers and Flames, and Top Tier Rolling Accessories. Three voter registration tables were also at each end of Temple Street and at the middle of the gathering.
Downtown’s Middle Eastern cafe Havenly Treats donated 50 falafels to the organizers for free distribution to th4 crowd.
Around 3:30 p.m the organizers relieved the volunteers of their work, and the artist finished the final touches of the mural together.
“This is their protest,” Sun Queen said of the artist. “Change doesn’t always look like a protest or rally.”
After the artists finished with the final touches, they began removing the outlining tape.
Sun Queen said she hopes for the mural to serve as a reminder to Black New Haveners that they are loved and respected and for the community to know “Black Lives Matter is more than a hashtag.”
Organizers are accepting donations to fund the artists and the materials needed for the murals.
Black Lives Matter New Haven members.