A new mural outside of Sanctuary Covenant Church at 710 W Broadway Ave in North Minneapolis was unveiled and dedicated Saturday afternoon as part of the Flats vs Drummies community event.
The mural was created by Kenneth Caldwell, local artist with North Minneapolis roots and is located on the wall of the office building at the church.
Edrin Williams, the Senior Pastor at Sanctuary Covenant Church, told WCCO Radio's Sheletta Brundidge on Saturday that the mural is a new way to speak to the community, particularly as gun violence has spiked over the last year.
"One of the things we wanted to do is to commission a peace mural to use art to communicate to the community and to those coming in and out of North Minneapolis that the people here are loved, the people here are valuable, and we want to raise our actions to meet our identity," Rev. Williams said.
Williams told Brundidge that he believes that there's a real need in the North Minneapolis community and the African American community to reclaim their identity.
"Our identity as as beloved people of God," he said. "As kings and queens, as royalty in some ways."
The mural features a Bible verse from 1 Peter 2:9 that reads, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
Williams believes the mural can be a message and a reminder to anyone who happens to walk or drive-by it on any given day.
"They might look to it and see themselves in a different way and be reminded in a different way that they are not just statistics, or not just victims," he said. "They're royalty and sense and beloved by God."
The mural adds to an ongoing dialog that Williams says needs to spread and continue across the Twin Cities. He told Brundidge that he believes the art can be used as a conversation starter for city leaders.
"Maybe it will tell them that they haven't seen Black and brown people in the way we should have," Williams said. "Perhaps there is something that we as a city, and I mean the mayor's office and city council, owe Black people in this city because of who we are."