Art with Heart: Cincinnati's Black Lives Matter Mural is Here to Stay

Written By Sharvelle Bullock

On June 18, artists and community leaders took to the streets of Cincinnati, OH outside of City
Hall to paint a Black Lives Matter Mural. The Mural created by several dozen artists features
images and poems symbolizing the movement. Alandes Powell is the Visionary and Organizer
for the mural. “I have been with The Urban league for years. I am the immediate past board
chair, my term (just) ended in March of this year. I led the hiring of Eddie, our new CEO and
now the new Board Chair is Phillip Hollowman. I am still a part of the board”.
The inspiration was sparked after Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser renamed a street in
front of the White House “Black Lives Matter Plaza”, earlier in the month. “You can’t talk about
any Black Lives Matter Mural without acknowledging the Black Lives Matter Movement. It’s
not a company. It is a statement that people can grab onto. The mayor from DC actually had the
courage to start it.” Not only did the artwork create conversations online, but murals in several
major cities across California,Texas, and New York were painted by artists and community
leaders in solidarity.
As for Cincinnati, the idea came to Alandes after writing a poem, expressing her urge to speak
out on the current social events surrounding the Black Lives Matter Movement. “The poem, that
is the inspiration behind what the artists have actually painted. I posted it to LinkedIn. People
kept asking, what did we want? We’ve enhanced the poem and added to it, it changed from ‘I
want what you want’ to ‘WE want what you want’.” From there Alandes received countless
phone calls from friends and people who’ve reached out to say “finally it resonated with them”.
Over the next couple of days, shortly after another mural was done in Charlotte, NC, Alandes
was on a call with a coworker who had expressed her excitement about the mural.
“Cincinnati deserves that!”
She took to Facebook for recommendations and ideas and after reaching out to the Mayor and
City Council, the date was set for Friday June 19, or Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the end
of Slavery for Black people. Although they only had a week to prepare, and doubters to hurdle,
the Mural made its way to Plum Street, directly in front of City Hall.
“This is where it needs to be. It is our bat-signal. It is our way to tell them that ‘we are not
okay’. It is our call to action, to vote. We put these people here, so they need to look out and see
it. Starting at City Hall was always the plan.”
Each artist was made responsible for a letter and a part of the poem. As the visionary, Alandes
set the standard for the project and with that, came altruistic expectations. “Every person leading
the teams needs to be Black, we need allies, just like Fredrick Douglas within the Women'sSuffrage movement but I need the leaders to be Black.” Although all of the leaders were Black,
Alandes made sure to include diverse teams of artists for the overall project. “ I need to pay
them, as much as I can. A lot of times people in the art world don’t get paid for their work. I
wanted to change that narrative. I can’t ask the City to change how we treat people, if I’m not
willing to change.” With a few phone calls and a GoFundMe campaign, Alandes and her team
were able to pay the artists for their work.
The renderings of the poem were discussed via a Zoom conference call that Sunday, “We met for
the first time in person on Wednesday at 4pm, after getting the approval of the city, and by
Friday it was done”. Currently, Alandes and her team are working on getting the mural to be a
permanent fixture for the city. “ We’ve jumped through two hoops. The council approved it, the
city approved it. We have about one more hoop to go through. It’s going to stay there and it is
going to become a pedestrian plaza.” The city has since then painted guidelines on the mural for
drivers to assist with the flow of heavy traffic downtown.
The mural actually had to legally become Government Speech, for protection against anyone
who may want to have it taken up. There was pushback from community members “it is a very
small small minority, of people who don’t understand. The greater mass is the people who are
indifferent. That’s the group we are talking to. That’s what we are trying to change.”
Alandes hopes to spread the letters of the Black Lives Matter Movement all throughout the city,
almost like the ‘Flying Pig’.
So what is it that we are striving for?
Justice. Fairness.
“We just need to make sure we can talk in our language. Our language is art. Our language is
hip-hop. That’s how we speak. We have a responsibility as Blacks to change some things we’re
doing. The rest of the community has things they have to change. Corporations have to change.
My poem talks about it all--it’s not just policing. Policing has brought it to the forefront because
those are lives that have been lost. How we are treated in the workplace, the welfare system that
many don’t understand how it splits up families, systems, --all of that is what we are changing. It
is more than a pretty face. This picture captures the essence of the Black Lives Matter Movement
. We are crying for people to understand us, but we are also demanding change.”