Abstract
This paper describes a youth-centered activist project with a group of young women in Brooklyn, NY, and the controversy surrounding it. In 1999 the young women created a neighborhood mural with anti-violence themes. Within 6 months of the mural’s dedication, the mural was whitewashed by the corporate owner of the mural wall. Using content and discourse analysis of archival materials, organizational documents, and ethnographic fieldnotes from participant observation, I argue that the teen women’s representations of violence were denied through the shifting understandings of their ages and assumptions about conflict resolution strategies. I offer reflections on the need for careful planning and reflection in youth participatory projects and the meanings of success and social change in these projects.
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Notes
I have chosen in many instances to use the actual names of the people involved in this controversy. This includes the young women muralists, some of the neighborhood residents, organizational staff, and public officials. This choice was made with recognition of the pride these young women had in their work and my own pride as a participant in an organization that extends its valuing of the skills and knowledge of youth into public space. In addition, much of my data are a matter of public record.
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Acknowledgements
The author greatly acknowledges the helpful feedback from anonymous reviewers, Michelle Fine, Lubna Chaudhry, and Miller Jen Hoffman. This research was supported in part by a Spencer Foundation grant awarded to Michelle Fine and Lois Weis.
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Appendices
Appendix A: Mural Chronology
1999
- September 23:
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Neighborhood residents begin to circulate a petition against the teen women’s mural
- September 24:
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CAE delivers letters and feedback forms to residents of Tenth Street
- October 14:
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Teen women begin their own petition in support of their mural
- October 18:
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Mural is defaced with black dye on the image of the wolf with fangs
- October 21:
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Community meeting in VFW hall on Tenth Street
- October 26:
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300 signatures are received in support of teen women’s mural
2000
Over the next few months teen women, CAE representatives, neighborhood residents, Rite Aid representatives and Councilperson Angel Rodriguez meet to negotiate mural controversy
- March 3:
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Councilperson Angel Rodriguez releases a statement supporting Rite Aid’s decision to whitewash mural
- March 11:
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Over 40 people participate in a rally/demonstration to protest Rite Aid’s decision to whitewash the mural
- March 15:
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Teen women conduct a press conference at the mural site
- March 18:
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Over 100 people participate in a rally/demonstration to protest Rite Aid’s decision to whitewash the mural; 864 signatures and 150 letters of support are gathered to support the mural
- March 19:
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Mural is whitewashed
Appendix B: Local News Articles About Mural
Adriano, J. (1999, December 30) Anti-violence mural divides Park Slope, Lesbian and Gay New York, p. 12.
Barnes, J.E. (1999, October 3) Mural attacks violence, and neighbors attack mural, The New York Times, Section 14, p. 10.
Hirsch, M. (1999, November 2) Spreading their message stroke by stroke, Brooklyn Papers.
Montero, D. (2000, March 15) Forget the Whitney: B’lyn mural pits teens vs. ‘yuppies,’ New York Post, p. 2.
Mural stands in defiance of violence. (1999, October 4) Park Slope Courier.
100 protest plan to cover up a mural deemed too violent. (2000, May 19) The New York Times, Section 1, p. 42.
Schwartz, M. (1999, October 31) Anti-violence mural has fans in Park Slope [Letter to the editor] The New York Times, Section 14, p. 19.
Sweeney, M. (1999, October 8) Tenth Street mural irks nabes, Brooklyn Papers.
Sweeney, M. (1999, December 3) Rite Aid mural fight hits a brick wall, Brooklyn Papers.
Sweeney, M. (2000, March 27) Mural artists fail to stop paint-over, The Park Slope Paper, 23(13), p. 1.
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Bertram, C.C. Narrating Neighborhood: Denying Young Women’s Public Voices About Violence. Urban Rev 40, 454–471 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-008-0089-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-008-0089-7