As the shooting death of Mike Brown and subsequent protests remain a topic of debate across the country, Trenton is now at the center of controversy after city workers removed a mural dedicated to the slain Missouri teen.
Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri last August. The 18-year-old was unarmed at the time.
The shooting sparked weeks of unrest and protests in the St. Louis suburb as well as a national conversation on racial profiling. It also inspired numerous artistic tributes to the late teen, including a mural of Brown on the corner of North Broad and East Hanover streets in Trenton, New Jersey. The mural, created October 12 by local artist Will “Kasso” Condry, included the words, “Sagging pants is not probable cause.”
“The intent was to get a reaction,” Condry said. “It was to get a conversation started, not to further divide us.”
Trenton Police felt differently however. Claiming they were uncomfortable with the message the mural was sending, the officers urged the Trenton Downtown Association to take it down.
TDA Executive Director Christian Martin told the Trentonian he liked the mural but believed it was not at an ideal location. According to Martin, the corner of North Broad and East Hanover is a known drug area. Martin also claimed that while TDA authorized the mural to go up, they didn’t know what the content would be and the owner of the property never gave Condry permission to create it. Condry claimed the mural was sanctioned however.
Condry told the Trentonian a Trenton Police officer contacted him on Facebook Thursday and meant to have a conversation with him about the mural, but they were never able to schedule a meeting. Condry also claimed he received a call from Martin the next day asking him to take the mural down but he refused.
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The Trentonian reports another TDA employee called Condry Saturday, telling him police would file charges against him since he didn’t have permission to create the mural. Yet once again, Condry stood behind his work and refused to take it down.
Condry then used social media to inform his friends and followers of the pressure he was receiving to take the mural down. Caitlyn Fair, a local spoken word artist, created a petition in support of the mural on Change.org that received around 200 signatures.
“I was troubled by the fact that there was no conversation between all these organizations that are espousing to have the same goal in mind regarding what the purpose of the mural was,” Fair said.
Yet despite the support, city workers arrived at the location Monday with graffiti blasters and removed the mural.
Condry told NBC10 he was trying to create a dialogue rather than criticize law enforcement. Trenton Police told NBC10 however they felt the image of Brown was a distraction that undermined the relationship between police and the community. Yet even though the mural is gone, Condry believes it did its job.
"We’ve got to bring all these different sides together to talk about it and work through it creatively,” he said.
Acting Police Director Ernest Parrey told NBC10 he’s willing to follow Condry’s suggestion and have a conversation.
