Mural Memories

By Stephen McKinley

The H-block cast its dark shadow over East Harlem on Saturday with the opening of a mural to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands, the first hunger striker to die in 1981.

More than 150 people gathered on East 124th Street to see the unveiling of the evocative work by Belfast artist Gerard "Mo Chara" Kelly. As vivid as the mural itself were the recollections of those who could remember May 5, 1981, and memories flowed readily as the crowd gathered and waited under a cloudy sky.

None were waiting with more eagerness than Kelly himself, and his collaborator on the project, fellow artist Tom Billings.

"Let’s get this done," Kelly said. "We were never allowed to do this back in Belfast, and 20 years later, we’re here in the middle of East Harlem. They can’t stop us now. I have great pride for the families of the prisoners who struggled."

Rep. Joseph Crowley welcomed the onlookers, and told of how, at the age of 19, he had been transfixed on the day of Sands’s death, a day that he said was a "defining moment" in his life.

Introducing other speakers, including the New York City Council speaker, Peter Vallone, and City Comptroller Alan Hevesi, Crowley reminded listeners of the significance of the hunger strikers’ protest.

"It’s impossible to understand the pain, suffering and anguish [that is] the use of hunger strike to right wrongs. They used the weapon of their mind, body and soul, and they brought down the moral authority of the Thatcher government," Crowley said.

Hevesi recalled how he had listened with rapt attention to Sean Walsh, who had spoken to members of the New York Assembly in 1981, explaining the significance of the hunger strikes.

"It was an extreme declaration of the human desire for freedom," Hevesi told the crowd.

Vallone echoed his words. Referring to Sands and his young comrades, he said, "If you really believe in something, it’s worth giving all you got to give."

Three members of the New York Police Department pipe band played as the tarpaulin was pulled off the mural, titled "I Noil Chuimhne" ("In Loving Memory’), and the crowd broke into spontaneous applause.

Imprinted on a special canvas, the mural stands 30 feet by 30, and shows the faces of all 10 hunger strikers from 1981, arranged in the shape of a pyramid at the peak of which is the face of Eire, mother Ireland.

Two other hunger strikers from the 1970s, Frank Stagg and Michael Gaughan, are also present on the mural, as are Martin Luther King Jr., Leonard Peltier, Mairead Farrell, Nelson Mandela and Ghandi, people whom the artists consider famous fighters for civil liberties and freedom.

The symbols of the four ancient provinces of Ireland are represented, one in each corner, as well as architectural detail of the H-block prison layout. A verse of poetry by Bobby Sands takes precedence in the center of the piece: