Extra Credit: The Black Experience Mural

"The Black Experience" Mural is a powerful mural located in Ackerman Union that illustrates the experience of the Black community during the 1970s.  I learned about this mural through my Censored! Art on Trial class taught by Professor Lopez last year. I learned that this mural was covered for 20 years due to the anti-blackness internalized in our school. This form of censorship  hides the crucial history and the experience that black folks endure in many institutions. I truly believe that the censorship of murals created by people of color is a form of ethnocide since it is destroying and restricting people of colors history from being displayed, published, or told. Censorship is a form of oppression  from white supremacy because it  suppresses valuable history and it is a way to keep people of color from acknowledging their history and continue to marginalize them. This mural is also a reminder of the "diversity" claimed within the school and how many of us black and brown folks continue to be marginalized in our school.

Moreover, the mural illustrates black history and the many atrocities, inequities, and injustice the black community endured in the United States. Unfortunately, the black community today still suffer from these inequities due to the systematic racism and oppression that is embedded in our society. The part of the mural that stood out to me was the one that illustrated the black children incarcerated. This is still relevant today since black and brown children are hypercriminalized and brutally abused and harassed by the police. The criminalization of black children is a significant problem in the United States. This problem is addressed through The Black Lives Matter Movement which fights against police brutality in our society. Therefore, murals like these are needed in order to remind a community about their own history and how their experience is significant needs to be acknowledge. These murals are a reminder that social change is a process and it continues to be practiced throughout generations. Ultimately, this mural reflects the many untold and told stories of the black experience and educated others of their experience and the inequities they have and continue to endure.