CELEBRATING GEORGE FLOYD’S MURAL.
TWO VISITORS PAY THEIR RESPECTS AT THE MURAL HONORING FORMER THIRD WARD RESIDENT GEORGE FLOYD JR.
Celebrated Houston muralists Donkeemom and Donkeeboy created an angel-winged image that will be part of the legacy of George Floyd Jr. The mural fills a wall on Scott Food Mart, in Floyd’s old neighborhood at 3341 Winbern, and has already become a place where outsiders are welcome to pay respects to Floyd.
A halo made of the words “Forever breathing in our hearts,” tops the bigger-than-life portrait, which is based on one of the first heavily circulated images of Floyd after his death in Minneapolis — a shot of the man affectionately known as Big Floyd looking into a camera, his back against a brick wall.
It was the fastest, yet most sincere and important, mural the mother-son pair, who came to fame painting murals for the World Series winning Astros, has ever done. It took them five hours to finish the piece, painted on a heaven-blue brick background, so it could serve as a gathering place for people following last week’s 60,000-person march to downtown Houston. While thousands said goodbye to Floyd this week at services in Houston, the wall off Winbern Street will continue to be a welcoming spot.
“To see them out here until 1 o’clock in the morning, and they didn’t’ stop until they got through, that really meant a lot,” said Kimberly Hewitt, 45, a Cuney Homes resident who knew Floyd. “I really pray that people pay attention to this mural and what this man died for. Floyd was a community man, so it takes a community man to bring the community back, ” she said. A wall near the front of the store has long carried the names of the fallen from the area, including Hewitt’s son.
For the community, having a mother and son team create one of the most important images in their current lives means everything.
“Love operated in love, he painted this mural with his mom,” said Chuck Walker, who was raised in the neighborhood. “It’s going to be a constant reminder of how you need to move and how we need to live. This is an everyday reminder for everybody.”
Painting the mural was bittersweet for Donkeeboy, whose real name is Alex Roman.
“It’s different, I’m proud that we stand by people, but at the same time, I wish that I didn’t have to paint this. I don’t want to paint this kind of stuff,” said Roman, 38. “I don’t ever want to have to paint something like this again. But, as artists, man, it’s important for us to step up and to come through and to document the times. Unfortunately, in 2020, this is still happening.”
Local street artist Amanda Quintanilla, 28, was also asked to help out. She painted the right side of the wall with “Big Floyd” written in triumphant bubble lettering, and a crooked, bent sign reading “Floyd Blvd.” — a light
hearted detail the neighborhood appreciated. “I made the sign crooked because I saw a street sign on the corner was bent over, so it was paying homage to that and also paying homage to the hood,” Quintanilla said.
Silvia Roman, 61, known as Donkeemom, saw her work as helping to express the themes of equality and peace. On an Instagram post featuring the completed mural, she shared a quote in Spanish from the Mexican President Benito Juarez who was from an indigenous background: “Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz.” Translated to English, this means, “Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace.”
She said the mural is “about asserting the voice we have as minorities, to stop the injustices. At the same time, it was something that was done in a very short time. But it was still done with all the good intentions of the world, and to send a positive message.”
The mural will serve as a reminder for those who want to continue the fight for equality.
“This is where art makes a defining moment in the lives of the average human being on the street,” says Ibrahim Ashrawi.
Ashrawi, 71, the co-founder of Houston’s Palestinian American Cultural Center, was visiting the mural with his family last Sunday. An activist for decades, he said art has been pivotal in justice movements worldwide. “Once you put that in front of the people, it makes them identify with it, and it invites them into the struggle through their own streetwise perspective.”