Art

Artist Dedicates Live Painting to NFL Protesters

NEW ORLEANS DATA NEWS WEEKLY — The mural featured Quarterback Colin Kaepernick in the front wearing his football jersey with his fist held high.

Published

6 years ago

February 7, 2019

Oakland Post

By Darby Farr

If not us, who? If not now, when?”

Those words floated in the horizon of the mural painted by New Orleans Artist, Brandan “Bmike” Odums. The mural featured Quarterback Colin Kaepernick in the front wearing his football jersey with his fist held high, safety Eric Reid kneeling to the right of him, and various other scenes of young Black men and women with their fists also held high while the police and angry mobs stand in the background. On Feb. 3, 2019, Odums, the “Queen Sugar” featured visual artist, hosted a live stream as he painted a mural in real time during the Super Bowl. Studio Be on Royal Street opened its doors so that viewers could get an inside look into the making of a mural in solidarity with the players.

“Knowing Kap [Colin Kaepernick] and Eric [Eric Reid],” Odums said, “it’s important for them to know that people are with them and that their sacrifices, especially Kap’s, are not in vain,” he added.

Odums said that he believes art can make such a powerful statement, especially in the Black community, because African-Americans are visual people, continuously communicating through culture, food, music and art. He hopes to be a part of a group of people that will do something to help generations to come, so much so that people will look back in amazement at the impact they made.

It was certainly no coincidence that the live stream painting of the mural took place during halftime of Super Bowl LIII. Odums tweeted earlier that day that he was painting in solidarity with his brothers, Kaepernick and Reid. The quarterback immediately retweeted Odums’ live stream to his millions of followers, thanking the artist for his support. While some Saints fans were protesting the Super Bowl because of a controversial no-call made by a referee, other fans were protesting the NFL because Kaepernick has not been signed to a team, since his refusal to stand during the National Anthem in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Sports fans said they remain conflicted about how to support Kaepernick and their love of the game. An uptown New Orleans resident Terri Searcy said that although she supports the painting of the mural and the movement started by Kaepernick, she does not believe that she has to boycott the NFL to show her support. Searcy said that she watches football and will continue to watch football to also support the players, who benefit from a major opportunity to play their sport, at such a large scale.

“I think some people watch it, not just because they’re supporting some type of entity or organization, but more so because it makes me feel good or this is the only time I can be with my family,” said Victoria Alexis, a Marrero, LA native and supporter of the mural.

She said she does not watch the NFL; however, she believes that whether or not someone chooses to watch it is a personal choice. Alexis added that even when she worked in sports advertising, she still did not fully support the NFL, but since football is synonymous with America, she does not judge anyone for continuing to watch the NFL. She said she supports Kaepernick like the majority of the Black community because he stood for social and political change. He had the courage to do something that most public figures do not have the courage to do, she said.

“To see someone that’s outside of politics that actually cares, inspired all of us to do something different,” she said.

This article originally appeared in the New Orleans Data News Weekly.

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Activism

Griot Theater Company Presents August Wilson’s Work at Annual Oratorical Featuring Black Authors

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Published

1 month ago

February 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Late playwright August Wilson. Wikipedia photo.

By Godfrey Lee

Griot Theater Company will present their Fifth Annual Oratorical with August Wilson’s “Half a Century,” at the Belrose on 1415 Fifth Ave., in San Rafael near the San Rafael Public Library.

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20^th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Previous performance highlighting essential Black American authors included Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Lorraine Hansberry with Langston Hughes.

The play will be performed at 3:00. p.m. on Feb. 20, 21, 22, 27, and 28 at 7:00 p.m., and on Feb. 23 at 3:00 p.m.

For more information, go to griottheatercompany.squarespace.com/productions-v2

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Activism

MLK Day of Service Volunteers Make Blankets and Art for Locals in Need

“Everyone has an opportunity to participate,” said Glenda Roberts, kinship support care program manager at CCYSB. “Our nonprofit organization and participants recognize how important it is to give back to the community and this is serving. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, ‘Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve.’”

Published

2 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Photo courtesy of the nonprofit.

By Kathy Chouteau
The Richmond Standard

The Contra Costa Youth Service Bureau (CCYSB) and Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church (BMBC) are collaborating with a team of volunteers for a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, Monday, Jan. 20 that will wrap the community’s most vulnerable people in warm blankets and provide them with an uplifting gift of art.

Volunteers will kick off their activities at BMBC at 11 a.m., making blankets for the unhoused people served by the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP) and art for those in convalescence in Richmond.

Others will get to work preparing a lunch of chili, salad, a veggie tray, and water for participants, offered courtesy of CCYSB, while supplies last.

“People of all ages are welcome to participate in the MLK Day of Service,” said Roberts. Volunteers can RSVP via phone to Glenda Roberts at 510-215-4670, ext. 125.

CCYSB Boardmember Jackie Marston and her friends donated the materials and supplies to make the blankets and art projects. The nonprofit is also providing the day’s complimentary lunch, as well as employees to volunteer, under the direction of CCYSB Executive Director Marena Brown.

BMBC, led by Rev. Dr. Carole McKindley-Alvarez, is providing the facility for the event and volunteers from the church, which is located at 684 Juliga Woods St. in Richmond.

Located in Richmond, CCYSB is a nonprofit youth advocacy organization that serves eligible children, youth, and low-income families with a variety of wraparound services so they can thrive. Programs include academic achievement, youth mentorship, truancy prevention and direct response.

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Art

Vandalism at Richmond Ferry Terminal Saddens Residents

Residents have been lamenting the destruction online. Ellen Seskin posted photos of the vandalism to the Facebook group, Everybody’s Richmond, on Jan. 12, saying she encountered it while out on a walk. “It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

Published

2 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Graffiti mars the walkway at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Photo by Kathy Chouteau, The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

“This is why we can’t have nice things,” stated the post on NextDoor.

The post referenced images of graffiti at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Not just on the terminal, but also on public artwork, on trail signs, on public benches and the boardwalk.

On Wednesday, the Standard stopped by to see it for ourselves. The good news was that it appears the graffiti on the terminal and on the artwork, called Changing Tide, have been cleaned for the most part. But graffiti remained abundant in the area around the relatively new ferry terminal, which opened to the public just six years ago.

Graffiti artists tagged benches and the boardwalk. Cars that had done doughnuts in the street marked the cul-de-sac just outside the historic Craneway Pavilion.

A ferry worker told us the graffiti had been there since before he started working for the ferry service about a week ago.

A member of the Army Corps of Engineers who did not want to be named in this report called the scene “sad,” as “they’d done such a nice job fixing it up.”

“It’s sad that all this money has been spent and hoodlums just don’t care and are destroying stuff,” he said.

It wasn’t immediately clear how soon the graffiti would be removed. The Standard reported the graffiti to the city’s graffiti abatement hotline. We were prompted to leave a message reporting the address and location of the graffiti.

“It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

In the comment section responding to Seskin’s post, local attorney Daniel Butt questioned why there aren’t cameras in the area.

On Nextdoor, one resident suggested searching to see if the tags match any accounts on Instagram, hoping to identify the perpetrator.

On its website, the City of Richmond says residents should graffiti immediately call Public Works graffiti removal and/or Code Enforcement at 510-965-4905.

Kathy Chouteau contributed to this report.