Justice Boards

When I first moved to Oakland, many of the buildings downtown were boarded up because of a combination of covid and protests. Many of these boards were painted with beautiful messages of social justice and hope. One of my favorite things to do has been to walk around various parts of the city and take pictures of the amazing work local artists do. As covid become more under control, they have gradually been taken down. This trend was quickly reversed after Daunte Wright was killed by the police. The boards that had been coming down over the storefronts of downtown buildings went right back up in a matter of days. I guess they sensed that this was a bad sign for their capital interests, or maybe even predicted that this summer will be even worse than the last. 

It feels ironic to me that this art of hope and social justice of a year prior is coming back because of our current injustices. It feels like at best nothing has changed. At worst, we have gone backwards because the messages of justice have been watered down and co-opted. So many people were incensed by the events of last summer that it forced corporations to say something, whether they believed it or not. Black Lives Matter used to be a controversial phrase, now it’s part of the standard lexicon for most companies. That might seem good, but does it matter if they are taking actions that show they do not value Black life? If they do not adequately pay their employees or if they back politicians who aim to restrict our votes? I believe that there is a difference between actions that help us survive vs those that lead to progress. Conflating the two runs the risk of us treading water when we could swim to shore.