There is a new art memorial installed throughout the park – come “Say Their Names”.
“Say their names!” is an ever-growing list of African Americans – men, women and children killed by police brutality or in blind hate.
I learned about “Say Their Names” in Anna Crusis, the women’s choir I sing with. After calling out their names again and again I imagined being the mother, daughter, sister, or friend and calling out their name became personal and up close.
Take a walk through the park. See a tiny selection of men, women and children and their stories.
What I hope this installation will do – let us enter but for a moment that person’s place and the senseless, hateful way they were ripped out of their life, what this has done to their loved ones and the black community who never can assume they are safe, respected, entitled to a good education, fair justice, excellent healthcare – things so many of us take for granted.
You will find a QR code on a nearby stake – point your smartphone camera at the square and you’ll be linked to information about that person’s death. But aside from the technology, please don’t forget to say their names. Say their names as if you knew them and their senseless death, say them again and again as you walk on….
– Marlis Kraft