BLM statements met with mixed reactions
Two street murals in Acres Homes warmly welcomed by neighborhood
Smoky ribs and 10-pound loaded baked potatoes, big enough to feed up to 15 people, typically attract large crowds at Burns Original BBQ in Acres Homes, but this past weekend there was even more of a draw.
Early Saturday, volunteers and community members painted a “Black Lives Matter” mural on the street in front of the restaurant, which has been a fixture of the community since 1973.
Cars slowed their pace down the street, as if the drivers were being careful not to smudge or ruin the already dried red and yellow-painted letters. Others pulled over, hopping of out their cars to record the mural and snap selfies.
“This (mural) is one of the things that I always wanted for the community,” said Cory Crawford, owner of Burns BBQ.
He was inspired by the “Black Towns Matter” street mural painted last month in Houston’s Independence Heights. Acres Homes, a historically Black neighborhood, needed one of its own.
“So many people come from all over to visit Burns BBQ, but when they see this, this attachment will bring more awareness to the whole situation going on right now,” said Crawford, adding that the restaurant had already seen an outpouring of support on social media.
Justin Miles, 36, a longtime patron of Burns, said it was the perfect place for a street mural.
“It has so much history,” said
Miles, who remembers coming to Burns every Saturday after church growing up. “To have this in the forefront of an all-Black owned restaurant, it’s a sense of pride. It makes me feel like we’re behind our people.”
To Miles, such a mural recognizes that the Black community has faced some unique struggles, particularly in cases of police brutality, and that African Americans and their allies stand together.
“We support each other because we know how we feel. Everyone’s lives matter, but it’s Black people being targeted,” Miles said.
Meanwhile, just miles away on Carver Road and South Victory Street, Angeanette Thibodeaux, council president of Acres Homes Super Neighborhood, joined community members in painting Acres Homes’ second “Black
Lives Matter” mural, which will pay homage to the neighborhood.
Once finished, the painting’s letters “L”and “I” will be creatively combined with two number
4’s. The “44,” most commonly pronounced as the “fo-fo,” is a nickname for Acres Homes that refers to the historical 44 Metro bus route that runs through the neighborhood and once served as one of the only forms of public transportation for its Black residents, Thibodeaux said.
Thibodeaux, 48, said many members of the community were eager to see a mural like this happen in Acres Homes.
“They were admiring Atlanta. They were admiring D.C., and every meeting, they were like, ‘They really got it down pat. They stand for their people,’ Well, we hear you,” Thibodeaux said. “So, we’re going to stand, even if we have to break a rule or two to do it. And we did it.”
Both murals, done without permits due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are a “big deal,” said Arica Bailey, coordinator of planning firm CGES Bailey Planning, which helped organize both.
“Acres Homes is one of the
Black communities in the city where this was the only place where they could live, and it’s still predominately Black,” Bailey, 34, said.
According to the most recent city government data available, the Acres Homes neighborhood was 71 percent Black, 23 percent Hispanic and 5 percent white in 2015.
Bailey, who said other individuals have already expressed interest in a mural in their area, said the two new street paintings will help bring more exposure and pride to Acres Homes, where Mayor Sylvester Turner grew up.
“It’s important to keep them on the map, keep showing that they’re important, and we have to keep doing the work,” Bailey said.
And if people didn’t know about Acres Homes before, she added, “they’re going to know about them now.”