Graffiti Garage Doors Donated
On “Bloody” Sunday, March 9, 2008 Rev. Franklin B. Fortier, Jr., Executive Director ofthe Slavery & Civil War Museum accepted the Graffiti Garage Doors from Broderick Gamble and Silk Littlejohn. His letter expressed the following statement “Recent acts of racial hatred throughout the United States have given us the resounding message that we all must remain vigilant with one voice and affirm that racial hatred can no longer be tolerated…we welcome your contribution of the doors defaced by those negative and hateful epithets and will place them within the museum to expose to our national audience as a testament to our collective struggle.” The Slavery & Civil War Museums are an outgrowth of the National Voting Rights Museum. Broderick and Silk thanked Rev. Fortier and museum board members for their support and agreed to get the garage doors to Selma as soon as possible. Arlington filed a lawsuit against the couple to in an attempt to get them to cover up or remove the graffiti from the garage doors. By recovering the doors with blue tarp the couple felt they were in compliance with the city’s and Judges order, however, the couple were alerted by a neighbor that people were on their property in front on the garage doors.The couple arrived at their property only to realize city official disregarded the couple’s compliance and removed the graffiti from the garage without serving the couple a citation or a warrant prior to the removal.
