Oakland boutique owner turns boarded-up storefront into mural honoring black lives lost
“I felt like boarding up my windows was like silencing my voice,” she said. “I love our windows so even trying to cover them is an emotional thing.”
When she returned the next day, her boutique was vandalized with some graffiti, though the large glass windows stayed intact. After she left to figure out how to clean the windows, she came back and someone had already done it for her.
“It literally broke my daughter and I into tears it was so nice,” Jay said.
She eventually decided to board up the windows at the urging of her daughter, the co-owner of her business, but she agreed under one condition. She would hire a black artist to make the boards beautiful and commemorate the black lives lost to police brutality.
The mural by artist Elijah Pfotenhauer spans multiple windows and lists the names of black lives lost, including George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.
Jay said she was taking part in a few rallies this weekend and her daughter has attended many of the protests. She’s also been using her social media channels to share information and get resources out to the many people who have reached out to her to ask how they can be supportive right now.
“I’ve been sharing my voice online. Since I have a platform I'm going to use it,” she said. “I don't have all the information, but I can refer them to people that do. And I can tell you what I feel right now as a black woman.”
