Tilan Burnett was on Seventh Street beneath the railroad bridge in Little Rock on the afternoon of May 31.
Burnett graduated from Little Rock Central High School this year and was under the bridge posing for photos taken by his cousin. He stood in front of a newly painted mural of George Floyd, whose death in Minneapolis on May 25 while in police custody inspired protests across the nation and world against police brutality and racism.
"We rolled by yesterday and took pictures of it, and I wanted to come today and have my graduation picture taken with it," Burnett said. "This is history."
The colorful mural, a large portrait of Floyd in green and blue with an orange outline, is the work of artists Jermaine Gibson of Little Rock and Jose Hernandez of North Little Rock.
Hernandez, 36, and Gibson, 42, began the mural May 30 and were finishing it the next day. It includes the names of other black people and people of color killed by police or in racial violence -- Emmett Till, Ahmaud Arbery, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Philando Castile, Bradley Blackshire of Little Rock and more.
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Hernandez, who signs his work as X3mex, was spray-painting "I can't breathe," a quote by Floyd that was caught on video just before he died. Beneath that, he painted "The System is Suffocating Us."
"We want to let people know that we won't stand for this," Hernandez said from behind a yellow bandanna. "There was no question of what should we do; we knew this had to be represented. This is happening to black people, brown people, gay people. We need to be united so we can change the system."
Cars slowed and some stopped as people took pictures or honked in support while the pair worked.
"The only way we can express how a lot of the city feels is by putting up a mural," said Gibson, who signs his work as EATS. "We are human beings. You can't kill a man in front of the world and get away with it."
Gibson and Hernandez also painted murals on the headquarters of the Arkansas Pharmacists Association and Democratic Party of Arkansas headquarters, both of which were damaged during protests near the Capitol last week. (Large sheets of paper with victims' names painted on them at the Democratic Party building appeared to have been torn down Friday morning).
A march of educators, students, parents and youth advocates from the Capitol to the Floyd mural took place at noon Friday.
Last Sunday Gibson, his nose and mouth covered by a gray neck gaiter, said art can make a peaceful, powerful impact.
"You do something like this, it lasts. You burn a Target down, they will just rebuild it and you still end up having to go there to get your stuff. "
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