Kansas City’s Black Lives Matter street murals are important. Don’t let them fade away

In September of 2020, after the killing of George Floyd and in the midst of what was being called a “reckoning on race” in this country, hundreds of local volunteers of all ages, gender identities and races came together to create six unique Black Lives Matter street murals throughout Kansas City.

National media spotlighted our city’s effort, which organizers think may be the largest such project in the nation. But now, the vibrancy of those murals, designed by well-known Kansas City artists, has begun to fade because of street traffic and weather. Organizers of the project are worried that if not preserved, the murals — and the sentiments they proclaim — are at risk of fading.

That should not be allowed to happen. The cost to restore and maintain them — an estimated $60,000 — is reasonable. Their message, and the unity brought about by their creation, are too powerful to dismiss.

City Council member Melissa Robinson said she would support putting city money toward preserving the murals. But when organizers of the project applied in February for one of the city’s Rebuild KC neighborhood grants — funded with federal COVID-19 rescue dollars — to preserve the street art, they were not among the 211 proposals accepted.

The plan at that time was to recreate the murals on a smaller scale using longer-lasting materials in parts of the city where the murals were originally painted. Supporters also wanted to make a special effort to preserve the full-sized mural covering the street at the city’s historic 18th & Vine Jazz District. Crissy Dastrup, a community advocate and one of the mural project organizers, says that if murals are not preserved anywhere else in the city, “the one at 18th & Vine definitely should be saved.”

The murals, Dastrup said, “stand as not just pieces of public art but represent how this community feels. It was a lot of hard work — three months of planning, 1,000 volunteers and $62,000 raised — to make this happen. It was a beautiful experience for our city and would be an ongoing public art installation that keeps something special going.”

We wholeheartedly agree. Not to save any of the murals would be a terrible shame. Letting them fade out could signal that the effort was only performative, a reaction to the moment the country went through at the time and not a value to which the city is committed in the long term.

That’s why we think the city should not balk at finding the money to preserve as many of the murals as possible, and especially the one at 18th and Vine. Public art benefits a city in many ways and has been known to help fight blight and build community pride.

And let’s be clear: The statement that Black Lives Matter does not convey support for the official Black Lives Matter network, but rather is a statement of human rights wherein Black lives are free from dehumanization, brutality and injustice. Everyone should be for that. It is in no way a statement that lessens the value of other lives.

City Manager Brian Platt’s office is working to include in the upcoming city budget money to create, and preserve public art murals throughout the city, including in areas such as the West Bottoms and the Crossroads district. Preserving the Black Lives Matter street murals are not specifically considered in Platt’s budget package, according to his office. But he is not opposed to seeing them preserved. While Platt’s office had hoped the street murals would have lasted longer than two years, city officials admit noticing their deterioration.

Yes, it will take money to keep the murals vibrant. Even if that means touching them up once or twice a year, it would be worth it. Any new work should be made the best materials available. Efforts to raise private funds should continue, too. This is one public-private partnership the whole city could get behind. These are city landmarks with a message we can all embrace.