Great to see Brooklyn-based artist Dread Scott included as part of a recent NY Times article on how black artists are responding to the recent killings of black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota. Among other pieces, the article features his flag, itself inspired by an NAACP flag used in 1936. The author notes:
Mr. Scott said his goal was to direct people toward the history of “lynch mob terror” and how the police have more recently played a similar role. “I think that saying a man was lynched by police actually brings up an important history in this country in a way that I think people get,” he said. “But that’s not spontaneously how they view it.”
Scott went onto say the following:
“Having the videos enables all sorts of people who otherwise might not believe what black people are saying about how the police brutalize and murder us,” Mr. Scott said. “At this point, people can’t say they don’t know. At this point, people are making a choice to believe an illusion that the police are there to serve and protect anything other than this system.”
“If you’re not touched by these videos, there is something wrong with you,” he said. “I was crying. I have a son. And I fear for him, but I feel for all the sons and daughters and people in general. But frankly I’m afraid of the police.”
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