LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On Saturday, two artists started their own expansion of the civil rights mural on West 7th Street in Little Rock, near White Water Tavern.
The expansion comes with a portrait of George Floyd, a man who died after being pinned down for several minutes by a Minneapolis police officer. Protests and riots against police brutality started occurring all across the nation following Floyd's death.
"It's unfortunate that we have to paint this kind of thing, but we have to. I feel it's our responsibility that we've got to do, and we have to do it in our city," said one of the artists.
Next to Floyd's portrait, the artists listed the names of Ahmaud Arbery, Samuel Dubose, Michael Stewart, Emmett Till, Oscar Grant, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Walter Scott, Terrence Crutcher, Breonna Taylor, and Trayvon Martin.
"We need to recognize that police brutality will not be tolerated in the city of Little Rock," said one of the artists. "We're not gonna have a local. We're putting a man that lives in Minnesota on a wall in Little Rock. We don't need any locals getting murdered, so it's gotta stop."
A Little Rock-based artist, Jose Hernandez, started the mural almost four years ago. It sits on the walls underneath the railroad overpass, a little west of the Arkansas State Capitol.
In September 2019, Hernandez added civil rights icons Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Daisy Bates, and the Little Rock Nine to it -- also displaying the words "create" and "peace."
You can find the artists of the George Floyd portrait on Instagram: @greasepenlen and @x3mex.