Apple gave the huge Black Lives Matter mural covering its downtown store to Portland’s civil rights organization, Don’t Shoot PDX.
The panels “reflect the responses of so many who have witnessed this summer’s uprisings and the joint call for action against institutionalized violence and white nationalism,” wrote Don’t Shoot PDX in his newsletter this week.
Apple’s downtown Portland location is surrounded on three sides by floor-to-ceiling windows. Like many shopkeepers in the center, the store has been boarded up since June amid nightly civil rights protests that lasted through the summer and sporadic acts of vandalism that continued through the fall.
Portland artist Emma Berger started the mural on June 1 on Apple’s black plywood with a painting by George Floyd and the phrase “I can’t breathe”. This was joined by other artists who added images and names of other African Americans killed by police violence.
“Portland community artists have reinvented the blank canvas around our Pioneer Place Apple Store and created a monumental work of art in honor of the ongoing struggle for justice and the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. Apple supports artists and everyone who fights for social and racial justice, ”Apple said in a statement on Friday.
“We are honored to have hosted the murals and are very happy to entrust the artwork to Don’t Shoot Portland in support of its advocacy for social change,” said the company.
The mural at the Apple store in downtown Portland, as it appeared last summer. Beth Nakamura / The Oregonian
The Portland mural acquired historical significance last summer by becoming a national symbol of protests and disturbances caused by police violence.
The downtown Apple store has been closed since May 31, when Portland protests broke out. Many other traders in the center are also closed, as the coronavirus pandemic has closed offices and pedestrians have left the center.
Don’t Shoot PDX features a wall image on your web page. The organization, which opposes racism and police violence, did not immediately say how it plans to use the mural or whether it plans to display it publicly.
– Mike Rogoway