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Black History Month – Mural Painting!
It was shortly after watching Spike Lee’s ‘X’ that I got inspired and decided to paint this mural of Malcom X (8′ height x 12′ width Oil On Particle Board ). That movie had a big impact on me, especially the Sam Cooke “Change is Gonna Come” sequence portraying X’s assassination. The way in which the story was told on screen, the emotions put together; definitely made some lasting effect and I’ve always deeply respected Spike Lee as a filmmaker. Well, after reading the speech of “The Ballot or The Bullet” I greatly respected Malcolm X as an orator. I love a great speech, and once I’d pulled down a book of great speeches from the 20th century containing “The Ballot or The Bullet” I was hooked. The text in the mural behind the figures is actually the speech of “The Ballot or The Bullet”. Not living during the years of his existence, I can’t really say I truly knew the social impact X was having or not having, but like so many good leaders he definitely had a way with words. My personal favorite comment he ever made was “the chickens have come to roost”, referring to the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. In that very brief moment he used the power of words to utter the sentiments that so many people knew to be true, but were to afraid to say.