DERBY — The Valley Martin Luther King Jr. Committee is working with city government to create a visual tribute to the legendary civil rights leader.
The committee recently announced plans to have a mural painted of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and prominently displayed on the exterior of a city building, yet to be determined.
They are teaming up with the nonprofit CT Murals, a project through the RiseUP for the Arts organization, along with New Haven native/artist Isaac Bloodworth, a UCONN graduate and museum technician at Yale Center for British Art, to complete the project. It’s also anticipated that local high school students will assist with the mural.
RiseUP’s mission is to have 39 murals painted across Connecticut towns and cities, one for each year of King’s life, according to TEAM Inc. President/CEO David Morgan. The video above shows such an effort in Manchester.
The goal is to have the mural “inspire” not only Derby, but the surrounding Valley communities with King’s dream of equity, justice, love and opportunity for all Valley residents, according to Valley MLK Committee Chairwoman Maliqa Mosley-Williams.
“Our main goal is to create an opportunity and a space for Valley residents to truly reflect on today’s world,” Mosley-Williams said. “Although the mural will be a beautiful piece that defines and memorializes Dr. King’s message, the main goal for this mural is to drive difficult conversations about race, equity and opportunity within the community. We also want people to feel a sense of unity when viewing this mural.”
Once a location is secured, Mosley-Williams said the design will pay tribute to MLK, along with other people of color born here who made significant, historical contributions, like Ebenezer Bassett, for example, “who broke historic grounds as the first black American to be appointed to a top diplomatic post as the United States Ambassador to Haiti.”
Both Mosley-Williams and Morgan said the mural is a community project, and recommendations on what it should look like and who should be featured on it are encouraged.
Choosing Derby for the mural made sense to the committee, as its first major project a couple years back of commissioning a bust of MLK and placing it in neighboring Ansonia was realized. Derby being adjacent to Ansonia “is a great place to continue the progress,” according to Morgan. The committee ultimately hopes to create other works within all the Valley towns.
The committee hopes to unveil the mural by Jan. 17, 2022-MLK Day. A final site is expected to be chosen at the end of June. The committee is seeking to raise about $7,500 to fund the project.
Mayor Richard Dziekan, reached by email, said he’s assisting in the search for just the right building for the mural.
“I had two meetings with the MLK committee members,” he said. “We toured Derby for some locations. I was looking at the River Walk, which attracts over 400,000 users a year. We are looking at some buildings in town. Some public and some private. I’m very excited the MLK Committee selected Derby as one of the 39 towns/cities. We can also incorporate some local citizens (in the mural) who contributed to Derby, the state and the country.”
TEAM, Inc. is serving as the committee’s fiscal agency, and 100 percent of the donations will go toward the mural. Those interested in making a donation, can do so at TEAM’s website at www.teaminc.org, and must reference “MLK mural” within the donation. For more information about donating or getting involved with the committee, contact Mosley-Williams at 203 – 751-4044 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), or Morgan at 203 – 887-4567 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
A public art display in downtown Manchester as seen on the CT Murals Facebook page.
Mosley-Williams said the timing of the mural is right.
“It has always been the right time for a mural like this, celebrating the amazing achievements of black leaders or any person within history that has made an impact,” she said. “However, with the black lives matter movement being so prominent and the need for reform being at the forefront, we felt this was the best time to do so. By creating this mural, this will not only continue the community dialogue about issues such as racial injustice, but it continues to raise awareness and a need to address issues occurring within our own community.”
The Valley’s NAACP President Greg Johnson couldn’t agree more.
“As an act of resistance against brutal law enforcement upon black and brown bodies, artists have taken to public art to express their contempt,” Johnson said. “On walls around the world, you can find murals dedicated to the lives of fallen civilians who were victims of police brutality. These murals, in public spaces, allow the message of injustices to reach audiences who might not read newspaper editorials, attend community Town Hall meetings, or march at rallies about the issue.”
Johnson noted how murals erected across the country, including one for Trayvon Martin in Brooklyn, NY and one for Eric Garner in St. Louis, send powerful messages.
“While each of these murals was painted in cities other than those communities where the victims lived or lost their lives, they were created to espouse a sense of solidarity amongst communities and convey the idea that we are all in this together,” Johnson said. “This is what the MLK committee is bringing to Derby and hopefully throughout the Valley towns.”
