“ARE YOU WILLING TO ATTACH YOURSELF TO A LEGACY THAT’S BIGGER THAN YOU?”

This time last year, something unforgettable was taking place on the 200 block of South Tryon Street in Uptown Charlotte.

Mere yards away from where the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, is said to have met with his full cabinet for the last time in the final days of the Civil War — and feet away from where he reportedly learned of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln — Charlotte creatives were writing a new history on that stretch of land. It’s more appropriate to say they were painting it.

On the morning of June 9, 2020, a passionate group of artists, support artists and local creatives were then assembled to do something that was unimaginable only five days before — painting “Black Lives Matter” on the street uptown.

We were standing there with them and can report that it was uncannily quiet that morning. COVID-19 had silenced the city and nullified traffic. But, after artist Dammit Wesley laid down the first stripe of bright yellow paint to begin the “B,” the world erupted into beautiful sound as other artists began to work on their letters and people from every corner of Charlotte stopped what they were doing to travel to that spot — singing, dancing, clapping, crying, singing and praying. [Read about how the City of Charlotte, Charlotte Is Creative, Brand the Moth and BLKMRKT worked with these amazing artists to bring the mural to life.]

The mural may be gone, but the meaning and the questions remain strong.

Today, a year on, the legacy of that mural and the passion of the men and women who painted it are still strong and at work in our community. The mural itself is all but a whisper today. But, we can still hear that morning ringing in our ears.

And, with the sounds of that morning, comes a question we must ask ourselves today and moving forward:
How will we uphold the legacy of the mural, the artists and the message they inscribed on our city — Black Lives Matter?

Remember the day. Recommit to the legacy.

To remember June 9, 2020, and the creatives who committed their talents and passions to it, please watch the video above by Charlotte Star Room. And, read the words below written and performed by Greg Jackson, founder of HEAL Charlotte, that play above the images you’ll see. Take time with them. These words have power.

Legacy.
Are you willing to attach yourself to a legacy that’s bigger than yours?
Is it all about you?
Is it self-preservation or is it about your brothers and sisters?
What do you live for and what is your legacy?
What are they gonna’ to say about you when you’re gone?
Does it matter ten years down the line? Twenty years down the line?
Or, do you just want to be remembered as a T-shirt?
Have you attached yourself to a legacy?
Do you have enough relationships in this world that people are going to remember you for your morals, your values or are they going to remember you for your last tweet?
Does your name stand forever?
Do you have integrity?
Do you have passion?
Do you have purpose?
Do you have legacy?
Are you trying to be healed?
Are you trying to heal others or is it about self-preservation?
Because if it’s about that we’re not going to make any positive change.
I need us to move forward, but do you know where we was at?
I need you to make a choice.
You’re either going to build or destroy.
Don’t watch me not breathing.
Stop the camera and get involved.
I need you to get to action.
I need you to do something.
The protest is not about today.
The protest is 365 days a year.
Are you ready to do something bigger than you?
Do you have integrity?
Will you do the right thing when nobody is looking?
Do you have passion?
Are you fired up about something and you don’t know where to place it?
Have you walked into your purpose yet?
And are you willing …
Are you willing …
To attach yourself to a legacy that’s bigger than you?

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