To Protect and Serve
1 media/15-770.jpg 2021-04-05T20:23:53-07:00 Curtis Fletcher 3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673e 38706 3 Noni Olabisi3406 11th Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90018
1996 plain 2021-05-18T15:40:06-07:00 USC Digital Library 1996 (Artist) Olabisi, Noni 34.025459, -118.329202 Dunitz, Robin J. Curtis Fletcher 3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673e
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To Protect and Serve
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Noni Olabisi
3406 11th Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90018
1996 plain 2021-05-18T16:01:50-07:00 1996 34.025459, -118.329202 Noni Olabisi’s To Protect and Serve makes the argument that the Black Panther Party, an organization that believed in self-defense and armed resistance when met with violence, had to protect the African American communities, because even those who were supposed to protect them were not doing so. The title is quite ironic, because according to the Los Angeles police department, “‘To Protect and Serve’ became the official motto of the Police Academy.” However, in the mural, Olabisi depicts the police brutality African Americans face, showing a black man getting arrested and beaten by police in reference to the Los Angeles riots. Olabisi criticizes the police, because they are meant to ‘protect and serve’ the people, yet they are the ones perpetrating violence towards black communities. Furthermore, Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, is depicted, tied up with a cloth over his mouth and KKK members are portrayed, demonstrating the racist history African Americans were forced to face. Rather than the police protecting the black community, the Black Panther Party had to come together to do that themselves as demonstrated with the members in the center with their traditional bandoliers, berets, and guns.
Due to the fact that the organization fought for justice in a nonpeaceful manner, there were many oppositions to this mural being created by the Cultural Affairs Commission. There was also a lot of controversy over whether or not this mural was glorifying what the Black Panther Party stood for. However, many fail to understand that this organization believed in protecting the black communities through self-defense, even if that required violence, because that is what was being used against them. Therefore, Olabisi combats this stereotypical violent image of the Black Panther Party with the Free Breakfast Program in which members supported black students suffering from the lack of access to food.
Written by Katlyn Hwang, c/o ‘24
