A Man on the Street

Photo: Camilo Jose Vergara (www.nytimes.com)

My "name brother" Camilo José Vergara has taken these great photos of Martin Luther King Jr. murials. In America’s poorest ghettos, these images are popular subjects of public art and regularly appear on the walls of the liquor stores, auto-repair shops, fast-food restaurants, mom-and-pop stores and public housing projects of Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and many other cities across the US. The majority are the work of amateur artists. Though Dr. King is usually front and center, he is often accompanied by other inspirational figures: Nelson Mandela, John Paul II, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa, Pancho Villa. He is also often accompanied by his famous phrase, “I have a dream” – a reminder that in many of the communities where these murals exist, the gulf between hope and reality remains far too wide.