After months of deliberation, the Town of Carrboro will be voting on a new course of action for multiple Black Lives Matter murals at its town council meeting Tuesday night.
Back in June, the Carrboro Town Council began its mission to paint Carrboro’s very own Black Lives Matter mural.
After some back and forth deliberations, at a meeting in late August, the council moved to paint a mural reading “End Racism Now” on the parking lot between Town Hall and Town Commons.
After another standstill, three months after initial conversations, the council has decided the mural in the Town Hall parking lot will now read “Carrboro Facing Race Embracing Equity.” The Council’s resolution states that this mural can be done with or without community participation.
However, it’s not the only mural to be painted.
Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle said multiple murals will be decided on at Tuesday night’s meeting.
“We wanted to do the mural that recognized Black Lives Matter or racial equity and end racism now,” Lavelle said. “We’ve looked at various sites in town, we’ve looked at different configurations and we’ve actually allocated some funding.”
When considering locations, the town has 11 options set aside for additional mural placement. These options include four locations surrounding the Century Center Tower, the Town Hall Annex, the Fire Station, Herman Wilson Park, Henry W. Baldwin Park, the Town Commons Fence, Roberson Place Bikeway and the Frances Shetley Bikeway.
As the council votes on these locations as possible mural sites, conditions like cost, visibility and proximity to historically Black neighborhoods are all being taken into consideration.
Alongside these 11 locations, Community Worx has offered the east side of its thrift shop and office building as another location for a community mural. Tuesday night, the council will also be voting on one of two options for the Community Worx project timeline. Option A plans to execute and finish the mural by November 21 while Option B has mural completion set for December 14.
Both options will incite a call to action for muralists, young artists and local youth of color to submit an application and get involved with the mural process.
According to the town’s website, the deadline for young artists to submit an application is coming up soon.
“We would like to get this done this fall and so it’s going to involve getting together the folks to do it, deciding on what it’s going to be and where it’s going to be and we intent to decide that on Tuesday night,” Lavelle said.
To check out Carrboro’s Town Council agenda discussing the various Black Lives Matter murals ahead of the meeting Tuesday night, click here.
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