Downtown Providence Black Lives Matter street mural ceremony noon today

The Black Lives Matter mural – estimated to cost approximately $10,000+ – that started controversy a few days ago is scheduled to have its official installation TODAY at NOON on Washington Street, adjacent to Burnside Park in downtown Providence. Funding was announced from RISD and the College Unbound group, and City of Providence Department of Art, Culture + Tourism, and PVDFest.

Mayor Jorge O. Elorza will join Rodney Davis, Co-Facilitator of All Black Lives Matter Street Mural, k. funmilayo aileru, Co-Facilitator of All Black Lives Matter Street Mural, Department of Art, Culture + Tourism Deputy Director Lizzie Araujo, African American Ambassador Group members and local artists, teachers, students, community leaders, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) community members for the event.

k. funmilayo aileru is on the faculty of RISD, listed as a Critic, Sculpture, and is the inaugural Parkist-in-Residence for the City of Providence. Rodney Davis is a communications, marketing and events strategist, with the African American Ambassadors Group with the City of Providence, and is a longtime volunteer with RIPRIDE, taking over its leadership this year.

The city’s press release refers to the banner as a public art installation that will officially launch PVDFest summer happenings, “with a local design that amplifies that All Black Lives Matter”. The mural, which includes designs that call out Indigenous, Pan-African, and LGBTQIA+ communities, features design work by Abenda Sohn, Ayeel Schofield, Sarah Sammay, k. funmilayo aileru, Rodney Davis and Nafis M. White.

“PVDFest has always been a big opportunity for the City to bring people together to share culture, stories and spotlight local artists,” said Mayor Jorge O. Elorza. “We could not think of a better way to kick off our PVDFest summer series than with this community driven work of art that affirms Providence as a welcoming place for everyone.”

The word “ALL” was added to the mural to reflect more inclusiveness of Indigenous and the greater Black community. By today, colors of the rainbow are planned to be added over the white lettering base, to reflect the greater LGBTQIA+ community.

Black Lives Matter groups

Harrison Tuttle, Executive Director of Black Lives Matter RI PAC said to RINewsToday, “As the Black Lives Matter movement continues to make strides in creating a conversation revolving around racism in our country, it is my hope that our state continues bringing awareness like this that sparks real systemic change. In order to end racism, we must end systemic problems that empower racism itself”.

Mark Fisher, of Black Lives Matter Rhode Island, called the installation of the mural “a slap in the face”, saying it was done without the input and involvement of the association in the development of the project.

Gary Dantzler said the project was done with “no inclusion, no nothing – this is a hijacking of the message when we were screaming Black Lives Matter and no one wanted to include that. I don’t know where this went wrong”.

Brett Smiley, candidate for Mayor said about the mural that while he understands the moment in time we are in, he only learned about the project the night before it was begun, and he is “much more interested in working on policy changes that will impact the community, than I am in murals”, and that if the community did not ask for this, it begs the question.

The city says that some local artists and community members have worked together over the past year to co-design and install the new original mural. Another ceremony, a ribbon cutting and free celebration of the street mural will take place during the weekend of Juneteenth on June 20, 2021. Details will be available at www.pvdfest.com. 

During the installation, vehicular traffic will be redirected to Fulton Street. RIPTA traffic will remain unchanged.

First Black Lives Matter street banner

On June 5, 2020, during the George Floyd protests, the DC Public Works Department painted the first street banner with the words “Black Lives Matter” in 35-foot-tall yellow capital letters on 16th Street NW on the north of Lafayette Square, part of President’s Park near the White House, with the assistance of the MuralsDC program of the DC Department of Public Works. On the same date, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, Muriel Bowser announced that part of the street outside of the White House had been officially renamed to Black Lives Matter Plaza posted with a street sign. When announcing the renaming, she said, “Breonna Taylor, on your birthday, let us stand with determination. There are people who are craving to be heard and to be seen and to have their humanity recognized. We had the opportunity to send that message loud and clear on a very important street in our city.”

Other Locations

28 States have Black Lives Matter street murals. Rhode Island now joins only two other states In New England – Vermont (Montpelier) and Connecticut (Bridgeport and New Haven) – that have had murals painted.