“We need to tell our children these stories.”

On Friday, my family and I attended a gathering at the headquarters of Black Lives Matter NH celebrating the unveiling of a new mural by Manuel Ramirez, the co-founder of Positive Street Art, a group dedicated to inspiring a passion for the urban arts and building strong communities across NH.

Denise Oliver-Velez listens as Manny explaining his work and what it represents to him and his community.

The mural depicts three young activists, Fred Hampton, Afeni Shakur, and Denise Oliver-Velez who fought for justice in the 1960s and 1970s. At the time, much of their advocacy was considered dangerous and radical by the people in power, but their agenda on issues like healthcare justice became a blueprint for much of the work community organizers and public health advocates have done in the decades since.

This event was especially poignant because Denise Oliver-Velez was in attendance to speak about her experience after over a half-century of activism, teaching, and writing. Our daughter, who is in the second grade, listened intently as Denise described her first experience as an activist in the third grade. Her class was told they had to practice “duck-and-cover” drills and wear dog tags to identify their remains in the event of a nuclear attack. Oliver-Velez was appalled, and immediately joined with fellow students and older activists to “ban-the-bomb.”

Oliver-Velez exhorted us to share our stories and the stories of others who have fought, and sometimes died, for justice with our children. We must continue to connect, to build, and to move towards more healing, community, and justice in the world. In her words: “We have no excuse.”

I was humbled to be a part of such an important event, and I thank the team at BLM NH for welcoming my family and me into their space. I hope to return soon and often!

To learn more about BLM NH and their work to promote racial justice in our state, please visit: https://blmnh.org/