Community Mural, Metro Park Basketball Court, Annapolis, Maryland |  July 4, 2020

This mural of and for Breonna Taylor was created by many through the Future History Now organization.  It measures 7,000 square feet. Every inch of this tribute was painted by artists who prayed for justice with paint and brushes.

This ariel view of this mural surrounded by nature can speak to us from a new perspective. We are seeing from the sky looking down on the life of a young woman who was killed. She left long before her death made sense in any way. She left under circumstances that we cannot make sense of in any way.

We have another memorial.  We have too many.

We are exhausted by the losses. Our compassion is threatening to collapse. Even the sequential, logical, language-bound parts of our brains are struggling to organize the numbers of this year. Our hearts are so wounded in these days. We turn and turn around with this immensity as on a macabre merry-go-round missing the solutions that seem within our grasp with every turn. We just keep circling and we don’t seem to be on that spiral staircase of which many have written. We don’t seem to be gaining elevation as we circle. We don’t seem to be moving to greater heights of justice or redemption.

Let’s look at this portrait of paint on asphalt again. Remember we are looking down. Maybe through her face and her memory from this view, we can continue to lift ourselves up into God’s justice that fills the very air around and above us.

Another mural painted since her death says simply, “Say Her Name.”  So let’s do that. In this meantime, let’s say her name loudly and softly, in our hope, in our despair, in our sadness, in our love. 

Breonna Taylor. Breonna Taylor. Breonna Taylor. Amen.

In hope and faith,

Sandy Prouty