The Redline arrives.

Teaser transcript

My definition of redlining is: how deep are we going? As deep as you gotta go.

Something that was intended to be a silent killer in our community, however, is so loud.

If I were to explain it to a student, I’d tell them it was an intentional separation of you from resources. The constant struggle of what you can be versus what society wants you to be.

Redlining to me is about zip codes. The marginalization of people.

I think redlining can go from anywhere to churches being segregated, to housing being segregated, to schools being segregated, but also third spaces. Redlining is every ism and schism you can think about. Redlining is intentional.

It’s like quicksand, something you can never get out of. They give you the illusion that it’s something you can escape, but in reality you’re fighting for your life and you can’t.

So redlining to me is the intentional deprivation of resources and access. It’s an old demon with a new face and a new name.

And so it continues to build upon a legacy where we lose our ability to choose for ourselves, confined to lines that we never drew.

I think the idea that giving more and taking away from, just because of what you look like, is evil. So my definition of redlining is evil.

I am art. I am art. Me, I’m the masterpiece.

My name is Blu Murphy and I’m a work of art, because I have the ability to see art in everyone and in everything, but particularly Black people, but especially in the youth.

The focus of my work is redlining. My premise as an artist is to be a storyteller. Hopefully through my art and advocacy, more of us see ourselves.