‘End Racism Now #BLM’ mural by local artists use Main Street to send message
Fredo Felix uses spray paint to touch up his work on Saturday, June 13.
The 100 block of Main Street was transformed into a giant canvass last weekend as local artists used the street in front of City Hall to send a message. Eighteen local artists spent the bulk of the day on Saturday, June 13, painting “END RACISM NOW #BLM” in giant letters on the street, a tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement and fight against racism.
Since Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser had ‘BLACK LIVES MATTER’ painted on the street leading to the White House earlier this month, cities across the country have been using the streets to show where they stand. Similar murals have been painted in Brooklyn, Seattle, Los Angeles, Dallas, Denver, and Charlotte. The mural here in Winston-Salem is the brainchild of local activist and community organizer Rasheeda Shankle. Shankle said everything came together for the mural in just two days.
Shankle reached out to local artists to help with the mural and the city approved the commission of the mural a few days later. Mayor Allen Joines provided funding to purchase the paint, the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County arranged for the artists to be paid for their work, and on Saturday morning at 7 a.m. the mural started to come to life. The Ministers’ Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity and Triad Cultural Arts, Inc. helped with the project as well.
“People from all walks of life have come together in peace for a greater good. This is exactly how it’s supposed to be. Peace and unity and love among all walks of life, not hatred for one another, but love for thy brothers and sisters as we have shown today and as we’ve shown in the past week of protesting,” Shankle said. “As a community we have set a high bar for other cities showing that we can come together peacefully to fight for a purpose and to let our voices be heard without displaying violence. Peacefully showing and letting people know that we have had enough. Enough of senseless violence, enough of racism, enough of hatred toward an individual because of the amount of pigment in their skin.”
One artist was responsible for each letter of the mural and three artists worked together on the hashtag.
