This past MLK Day Monday was meaningful for many reasons. In context of the current political climate and this week’s inauguration of our new president, now is a time of reflection and celebration, but also creation. So it was righteously fitting that the Black Lives Matter Global Network launched a new arts and culture campaign this week.

Co-founder and executive director of BLM (and LA Weekly’s December cover subject) Patrisse Cullors along with Noni Limar unveiled a new series that highlight Black Life and illustrate how Martin Luther King’s life can inspire us all. Celebrating the civil rights icon’s influence and achievements, the project is meant to amplify his work, which is more important than ever in light of the events that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.

“This MLK day BLMGNF is centering life, love, joy, rest, and pleasure. We will not allow white supremacists violence to deter us from the dignity and humanity of Black life,” stated Cullors in a PR statement. “Every artist in this series was handpicked because each of them center love as part of their work. We know MLK believed in love as the center of his work and at the center of the civil rights movement. Join us in honoring his legacy through this beautiful and transformative artist series.”

“We need to uplift our community right now and these artists have been curated as love is a focal point of their work, ” added Noni Limar, Co-Curator of the BLMGN MLK Artist Series. “And with love brings healing and the ability to rejoice and continue the necessary work to move forward as a people. We need a day to dream. A day to center life and leisure. We, who believe, like MLK did in the radical relentless pursuit of freedom, must also stop to dream, to be, to live.”

Artists involved in the project include Melanie Charles
, Rodney Diverlus
, Nikki Blak
, Christian Scott
, Derrick Adams
 and Shania Simmons
, and the new series will live on the BLM website and on Instagram.

 

 

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