All Photos by LeXander Bryant
Art Against Violence, Buena Vista-North Nashville (2018)
Sammarre, 8, and Samaii, 5, Daniels were playing in their front yard on a snowy day, when an argument between their stepbrother and mother erupted in violence. He shot their mother in the face, murdered the young sisters, then drove down the major corridor in our neighborhood, randomly carjacked two seniors and murdered one. This tragedy happened three blocks from my home and one block from my brother’s home at 4PM in broad daylight.
Our neighborhood was reeling. While violence had persisted for decades, this one felt different.
So, a group of neighbors banded together to:
- Reject apathy
- Take strategic action and
- Fight violence with youth employment.
Youth in North Nashville were commissioned to build an art piece featuring Mrs. Curlie E. McGruder—a freedom fighter and advocate for the non-violent student civil rights movement.
We funded the project with a grant from Public Works, donations from a neighborhood cultural organization, neighbors, local businesses and two developers. We secured permission to have the piece installed at an unwelcoming park space.
