Our Quilt

Our Anti-Racism Quilt

Racism is a serious issue that has caused too many instances of police brutality aimed at African-Americans. The victim we chose to commemorate was named Philando Castile. He was murdered by a police officer in front of his girlfriend and 4-year-old child (Croft, 2017). The officer was acquitted despite a dash cam video proving that the officer shot Castile seven times in a row after Castile voluntarily stated that he was a gun owner, but continuously repeated that he was just reaching for his license. The officer had no reason to pull Castile over in the first place. According to Attorney John Choi, who worked on the case, the officer "signaled to another officer that he was pulling Castile's car over because his 'wide-set nose' matched the description of a robbery suspect" (Nelson, 2016). The fact that he was pulled over because one oddly specific feature matched only a rough description of a suspect for a robbery is unfair. After reading about this case, Alanah and I decided to create our quilt in memory of Castile.

The quilt depicts Castile's face in order to create a sense of connection and empathy between him and the viewer. His face is covered by a transparent fabric depicting a gun to represent (a) the invisible racism that prevents people from empathizing with him and that led to a more overt form of racism - him being murdered by a police officer and (b) the invisible layer to him that exists because he had to live with the constant fear of police brutality. People hold implicit attitudes and beliefs about others, but it is essential that we become aware of our own prejudices because attitudes tend to be expressed as behaviors. Our quilt is a tangible depiction of this seemingly invisible racism and also white privilege; as a black man, he has a fear that does not allow him to do everyday tasks like driving without the fear of being shot to death. White people do not have that fear every time they drive or are pulled over by a police officer because police brutality in the USA is specifically directed at African-Americans. In a perfect world, the transparent fabric would be removed so that people would see him as a person rather than a number and he would not have to live with fear shaping the lens through which he views the world.