Oakland Streets Made Beautiful with Protest Art

A photo essay by Micki Luckey and Lili Shidlovski

Natalie Teyolia Puente paints a mural in the Fruitvale district of Oakland. Photo with artist’s permission by Lili Shidlovski.

Protests against police violence are occurring daily in thousands of cities and towns across the country since the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020. The brutality of this modern lynching followed closely upon the killing of Sean Reed, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbury, and then Rayshard Brooks was shot in Atlanta on June 13. In recent years police killed about 1000 people per year all over the country , a disproportionate number of them Black.

In early June, artists ranging from high school students to experienced muralists painted their protest messages along the streets of downtown Oakland in a spontaneous outpouring of beauty, courage and inspiration. Paintings also sprang up in the Fruitvale, many with bilingual and symbolic messaging of Latinx support for Black Lives Matter and some protesting attacks on transgender people of color. The following photographs by Lili Shidlovski highlight and showcase some of the many dozens of emerging murals.

Downtown Oakland

unsigned

@ThePeoplesConservatory

@DeredWrk

@panchopescador

@sebrinapham

@bettiono

@divyabala

@Matthuntering (Matt Hunter)

@studionoiroakland, @musetheshop

@_Shara_Smile

Fruitvale

@joannaruckman, @topetopetope (Adán Gutierrez-Gallegos)

@cececarpio

@lisaFbabiee

@mx.crystals.art.crew,@upawarriors4justice

@ladimeuna

@kilimunoz, @derekwrk

@kilimunoz

@panchopescador

@brains.64

May these images further motivate all of us to join current Black-led efforts to defund the police and to continue to work for racial justice.

@twinwallsmuralcompany