Second on the 2nd joins Monday Murals

 

Today is my second on the 2nd post.  Although I normally like to share a second look based on the guest host at Art Journal Journey, this month the 2nd lands on Sunday, the day I join Sami at Sami's Colourful World and her Monday Murals.  As many of you who visit every Sunday know, even though it's still Sunday in my world, please be aware that Sami's mural link goes live at 10:01 a.m. my time today.  Therefore, I'm bringing back a post that is near and dear to me.  I hope you enjoy either a second look or a first look at this mural that still speaks to me after it was created in August, 2020.  I have copied it below in its entirety. I called it 

Black Lives Taken Too Soon

My foodie friend Sally told me about this mural.  She immediately thought of me and told me where to find it.  As soon as I saw it, I was nearly overwhelmed.  It is quite appropriate because on Friday (August 27), we celebrated the 57th Annual March on Washington.  Although the National Park Service, which granted a permit for up to 50,000 participants, did not “require nor enforce” the use of social distancing and masks, Al Sharpton, who organized the event said they required all attendees to wear masks and social distance wherever possible.  Each person received a temperature check and was given a small bottle of hand sanitizer, too.  Many of the families depicted in this mural spoke during the March on Washington on Friday, too.

Breonna Taylor was a beautiful 26-year-old African-American emergency medical technician

who was fatally shot by Louisville police

issuing a no-knock warrant.  

The dove of peace flew to the next person who died too soon.

Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17 year old was walking home from a convenience store when he was spotted by a neighborhood-watch volunteer

who followed him and shot him because Martin "appeared" to be on drugs or might have been a burglar.   Once Martin died, the murderer was released because it's legal in Florida to use deadly force in self-defense.

Later charged with the offense, the offender was sadly acquitted and is now free, while Trayvon Martin is still dead!

Emmett Till was only 14 years old when he was brutally beaten, had one eye gouged out, and lynched for supposedly speaking to a white woman in a grocery store in Mississippi while visiting his uncle, a sharecropper.   After the lynching, the kidnappers threw his body in the river, where he was later found.  The all white male jury acquitted the two suspects in the case.

Till's casket was returned to his Chicago birthplace, where his mother insisted on an open casket funeral so everyone could see what had been done to him.  Till's death and the subsequent photos that were shown in various magazines may have, some believe, sparked the Civil Rights Movement.  It was 65 years ago on Friday (August 28. 2020) that Till was murdered.

This mural has been at this site for nearly two years, from what I could learn.  It was painted long before George Floyd was murdered, which inspired the Black Lives Matter Movement, and before last Sunday (August 23, 2020) when Jacob Blake was shot seven times, three of which hit his back, by a police officer who was not wearing a body cam.  Blake is currently paralyzed and up until Friday was cuffed/shackled to a hospital bed because he was accused of a felony.  Now those charges appear to have been dropped.  This incident occurred in front of Blake's three sons, one of whom was celebrating his birthday, who witnessed the event from the back seat of their SUV.

This mural is found in a strip mall located at 13th and Hillside in Wichita, Kansas (USA).

If you enjoy murals from around the world, please don't forget to visit Monday Murals at Sami's Colourful World.  And PLEASE, if you plan to protest anywhere in the world, do so PEACEFULLY!!  The mothers of all these who have died are asking for that, too.

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I hope you enjoyed this look back at this mural that still hurts me to see the potential that was lost due to others taking the law into their own hands.  No one should be judged because of their race, religion, gender, age, or sexual orientation.

If you are here for Monday Murals, please feel free to ignore the link.  It's time to share your own Second on the 2nd.  The rules are quite simple and everyone is welcome to join the fun look back.  All you have to do is bring back a post that you are especially proud of, or perhaps one you shared before anyone knew your blog existed.  Any post, any genre, any artistic endeavor is acceptable, as long as it's been published sometime in the past.  Then link below (direct links only, please) and Bleubeard and I, along with other Second on the 2nd friends, will be by to visit.  Please note this link is only good through 4 p.m. my time on Monday afternoon when T Tuesday goes live.