While I completed this painting last summer during the height of the BLM movement, I thought it perhaps even more meaningful to feature “All Black Lives Matter” now that the trial concerning George Floyd’s death has reached its verdict. There are so many honorable and fine police officers; in this moment resides new hope that their numbers will only grow within the ranks of this challenging profession – challenging, no doubt, in view of the systemic racism that yet discolors the society which our law enforcement serves. My most fervent hope lies in the fact that we all are, religious or irreligious, still a Christian culture. I was especially taken last summer by the numbers of black and white people walking side by side – in stark contrast to the black protests of the 1960’s of my youth. The beatitudes of Jesus still echo within our hearts: Blessed are the poor, blessed are the persecuted, blessed are those who hunger and thirst, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in heart (Matthew 5:3-12). As that child of the 60’s, I remember many decades ago Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, John Lewis – all in their own way echoing the voice of Jesus, expressing the needs of the downtrodden. What I hear most clearly now is that the message of Jesus will still take time.
“All Black Lives Matter” is ultimately about all “those who live in the shadows of other lives in the light” – black, brown, gay, disabled, female. In depicting these historically disadvantaged groups well up the road in my painting, I became reacquainted with some noteworthy historical facts. Rosa Parks, the lifelong black female civil rights activist who initially refused to give up her bus seat, suffered job loss, death threats and housing discrimination during her life; yet, upon her death in 2005, she was the first woman to lie in honor at the US Capitol. The women’s suffragette movement resulted in the adoption of the 19th amendment in 1920. Yet the last state to ratify the amendment did not occur until 1969. I was in high school. Shortly before his assassination, Abraham Lincoln had publicly expressed the idea of allowing black men the right to vote; the 15th amendment was ratified in 1870. Nearly a full 100 years later, our country was still wrangling with discriminatory voting practices and passed the Civil Rights Voting Act in 1965. The problem still endures. Indeed, as Martin Luther King expressed, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” And so, we continue our walk on the road with Jesus – each step closer to the view that “All Black Lives Matter.” We will get there. I have faith.
