August 28 March on Washington: Recontextualize the National Mall Monuments
Marisa Summers
Assistant to the President and Director of Executive and Board Affairs at the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
Black Lives Matter! The cry for justice heard round the world from Sweden to England. Japan to Australia. France to Canada. Maine to Florida. Virginia to California. Washington to Texas. And on Friday, August 28th, the 57th anniversary of the historic March on Washington, the people will once again descend on Washington. We gather to exercise our First Amendment Right to protest, this time for the ‘Get Off Our Necks’ Commitment March as we continue to fight for civil rights and policing justice.
As confederate monuments are removed throughout the United States, talented artists Dustin Klein and Alex Criqui, have created a projection in support of the #blacklivesmatter movement which recontextualizes the Robert E. Lee monument, still standing on Richmond, VA’s Monument Avenue. The projection displays images of Black people, who over centuries, have fought against injustice as well as died an unwarranted death at the hands of unlawful police and racist vigilantes. Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, to name a few.
I petition the National Park Service and Trust for the National Mall to display the projections on the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and Jefferson Memorial during the August 28th ‘Get Off Our Necks’ Commitment March. The world needs to see these images recontextualized in Washington, DC on the stones memorializing George Washington and Thomas Jefferson who owned slaves, and Abraham Lincoln who while he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, was against the social and political equality of Black people as compared to white people. The people need to see these images as we march past Black Lives Matter Plaza, down 16th street NW, our feet brushing the bright yellow letters of the Black Lives Matter mural. This is what democracy looks like! Same their names and show their faces! The time is NOW!
Slavery is the next thing to hell~Harriet Tubman
https://www.change.org/RecontextualizeJeffersonWashingtonLincolnMonuments-MarchOnWashingtonAugust28
Photo credit: AP/Steve Helber