“Certain conditions continue to exist in our society, which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so, in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And if America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots repeatedly. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”

—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., from his “Other America” speech, Stanford University, 1967.

I painted this during Hurricane Katrina, which devasted the South, and New Orleans in particular, where my father’s family is from. I painted this for that year’s Miami Art Fair, as I wanted to make a work that was both iconic and a homage to this great man and leader, but also thinking about all the folks, especially POC, who were horribly affected, and neglected, by this tragedy and the government’s failure to respond quickly and appropriately. Thinking of the Woody Allen Hannah and Her Sisters quote, “If Jesus came back and saw what was being done in his name, he’d never stop throwing up,” I thought if MLK saw what had happened to people during Katrina, he would never stop crying.