Pay to Live: The Black Holocaust Memorial of Savannah, Georgia
When it comes to creativity, we always think about famous artist, designers, and people who work in the art industry. But what about regular people? What can they do when they want to express their feelings, when they want to be recognized by people, when they have something to say? We (Brady Du and Charlie Dirkx) believe creativity is for everyone. A simple movement or statement can and will affect many people in different ways. A small but powerful gesture can change someone’s point of view forever.
If you've ever driven down East Broad street, you've probably seen The Black Holocaust Memorial. You've most likely given it a good look and then moved on, unable to whittle out the finer details of the nearly ten-foot-tall paper-mache statue from the driver’s side of your car or the rubbery seat of your bike, but it’s most certainly there.
The Black Holocaust Memorial statue resides on East Broad and Anderson. The use of bold colors and extreme imagery definitely sets this piece of art apart from others objects and locations found on East Board. It depicts an African-American slave chained up, standing on an elevated panel with children at her feet. The woman’s hands are wrapped in chains and her body is nearly naked except for the bit of cloth draped over the lower half of her body. She is almost naked, almost defeated, but still standing. You can feel that she is very strong, with children around her looking up to her for what could be interpreted as guidance, hope or help. She almost seems religious or holy in nature.
Next to the standing-woman section of the statue is a giant black panther, with green eyes and a blood-red mouth.
A stand sits to the left of the statue, a stand built as if to deliver speeches. On the stand sits a bolted-down pair of handcuffs.
On the right side of the piece, there’s a painted picture of the local artist who built the Black Holocaust Memorial on East Broad, as well as a quote of his:“It’s about money.” Underneath this quote sits, “This statue is protected by members of The New Black Panther Party.”
The colors are popping, the shapes are frenzied, and some figures are genuinely hard to understand at first. That was our first impression when we saw the memorial; but we cannot deny the initial impact of the statement that the artist is expressing to us. It’s meaning can be read loud and clear.
The colors are popping, the shapes are frenzied, and some figures are genuinely hard to understand at first. That was our first impression when we saw the memorial; but we cannot deny the initial impact of the statement that the artist is expressing to us. It’s meaning can be read loud and clear.
Next to the woman, as previously described, sits a raging panther. The panther seems weary, and stands there as a symbol of protection.
Without a doubt, the artist must have some kind of story that he wanted to share with the people in his community. When you walk close to the memorial, it looks more like a temple, with the name “Black Holocaust” displayed on top of the sculpture in white paint, with “memorial” inscribed below in goldish-yellow.
And there is still more to see. In other cities, it’s commonplace to see a giant piece of art on the side of the street, but not here in Savannah. After a brief minute of searching, we found a number on the back of the memorial; we later called this number, to find it belonged to the one and only artist behind The Black Holocaust Memorial, James Kimble. So we set up an interview.
James Kimble is a local artist with a strong point of view. Firstly he finished crafting The Black Holocaust Memorial back in 2004. The use of bold colors and extreme imagery definitely sets this piece of art apart from others objects and locations found on East Broad.
The Black Holocaust Memorial was funded by Yussuf Shabazz in 2002, when construction began. The initial reasoning behind Kimble’s statue is this; Shabazz and Kimble himself were outraged at the assignment of a white artist to create a Black Holocaust Memorial on River Street. Kimble went into detail about this event and gave us the simple reasoning behind his and Yussuf’s frustration:
“If she is [the artist] white, the people in the statue— they’re not gonna look black. It’s like me trying to make George Washington.”
It didn’t seem as if he was saying that a white person should never make a piece of art including a black person as to not misrepresent. It more so seemed as if he was saying that a white artist shouldn’t have made the specific Black Holocaust Memorial piece because that artist didn’t have as deep a connection with the material and the tragic past behind the material. Mr. Kimble responded by created his own passionate interpretation of The Black Holocaust Memorial behind his home.
Another backing reason behind the creation of the piece is to help black youth in need of outreach in the neighborhood. When we asked him about the handcuffs bolted to the pedestal, he told us that the handcuffs were there for young black men to put on themselves.
He elaborated, “It might help them rethink the shit they’re doing.”
On the far left of the statue, as previously mentioned, sits a plaque with a self-painted portrait of James Kimble, with the quote “It’s about money.” We proceeded to ask him about it and he immediately dove into the story of Paula Deen.
The broad strokes of the story are as follows: Paula Deen, an American celebrity chef and cooking show host, recently came under fire in the form of a lawsuit filed by Lisa Jackson. Jackson accused Paula Deen and her brother of “violent, sexist and racist behavior” against herself and other black employees of the restaurant chains that Deen owned. Kimble’s train of thought on this issue is that the woman who filed the lawsuit, Lisa Jackson, made a bad, selfish decision with that lawsuit; the allegations led to multiple Deen-owned restaurants to close, and caused the loss of jobs for black and white employees alike.
“You’re suing Paula Deen, but did you ever go back and ask the other workers? Ever talk about it with them? You’re suing Paula Deen, now this restaurant’s gonna be closing, I’m out of a job. She’s [Lisa Jackson] saying she’s offended, but really, eh— The workers in the kitchen already know how she [Paula Deen] is and what she might say, and they put up with that shit, but here you come now [suing, taking everything away].”
“If you get that money from Paula Deen, are you gonna help those workers? You’re not going back there, man. Not to check on those people. Everything’s about money. You can’t live off the land; you gotta pay for the land. You can’t get an apple from the woods because that’s someone’s property. You gotta pay to live.”
Kimble doesn't think it’s right for Lisa Jackson to shut down Deen’s restaurants, but he also didn't say that the other opinion was invalid; he understands it. It appears that, when money isn't involved, people will have the freedom to say what’s on their mind. The sad part is, in this day and age, you can’t just say things and not care about the consequences. “Freedom of speech” comes with a price.
During the interview, Mr. Kimble was incredibly understanding and patient. Looking at him, you can see the epitome of the classic working blue-collar man. When we first walked up on his home for the interview, we saw him working on a neighbor’s backyard with some other men. The second he saw us, he dropped everything that he was doing and come straight to us. He was quite gracious, if I do say so myself. His clothes looked work-weathered and he gave half of the interview still wearing his gloves.
Brady noticed that when he was talking about his work, he stood straight up with pride. When he talked about the female figure in the memorial, he showed the tiniest bit of sorrow as he slowly told us the background of the statue and the origins of the first Black Holocaust Memorial on River Street.
We couldn’t help but noticing that hint of sadness in his eyes, but at the same time, we also felt the energy that he projected; the energy that tells the story of an ordinary man working to create art that brings awareness to an event that happened long ago, but still means the world to him and millions of others.
As you can see in the picture, Kimble took a lot of pictures of and for visitors that continually come from all over the US. He has a tourist woman who comes down and sees him once a year to catch up and visit the statue. Besides that, the photos are also used to record the process of the adding more onto the monument; say, for instance, the way the panther’s overall design changed over time.
Kimble does all the work himself, and sometimes that leads to him having to do repairs after the monument has been attacked. He didn’t go into detail about these events.
We both very much respect Kimble for standing up for his beliefs and the beliefs of others for so long. Very few can do that with such talent, emotion and drive. Looking through the scrapbook with him felt like a trip down memory lane for Mr. Kimble and we could tell he’s very happy with what he was doing and continues to do. He kept building this monument to set a good example for the community, to make them remember history, and to spread a message of togetherness to the younger generations.
On a lighter note, if you look to the right of the statue, you’ll see a giant, 10-foot statue of the characters from Madagascar.
Every year Mr. Kimble puts up a new, massive, Christmas-themed paper-mache piece in his front yard for the community, the Madagascar statue being one of those Christmas statues. Mr. Kimble and the community liked it so much that he’s kept it around. It’s great and rather refreshing to see a person enjoying what they do while spreading a message of remembrance, coexistence, respect and compassion. James Kimble’s passion is all there and it is truly inspiring. Our interview with him truly opened our eyes to different ways of thinking and may have changed how we look at the world around us altogether.
by Charlie Dirkx and Haotian Du
11/16/2014
ANTH 101 Tues/Thurs 11–1:30
