For nearly a month, an illuminated message reading “There are black people in the future” perched atop an East Liberty building at Baum and Highland.
Then, three days before it was scheduled to go down, it disappeared.
Eve Picker, whose company manages the property, said that she had the message removed after concerns about it were raised. She said it violated a lease agreement prohibiting “distasteful, offensive, erotic, political…” content.
The CMU associate professor who coordinates the billboard’s changing messages created by artists decried the move. In a statement released Wednesday, Jon Rubin said, “I find it tragically ironic, given East Liberty’s history and recent gentrification, that a text by an African American artist affirming a place in the future for black people is seen as unacceptable in the present.”
Ms. Picker sent a message to Mr. Rubin on Wednesday, in which she said that her inbox was being flooded by people accusing her of being a racist. “So here we are,” she wrote. “Art has caused friction. Perhaps that’s what you wanted but it shouldn’t be aimed at me.”
On Friday morning Ms. Picker said the message would go back up.
“Over the last 24 hours, we’ve received a number of emails from people who said they are not offended by the sign and are saddened by its removal,” read the statement from Ms. Picker. “They far outnumber the people who originally approached us about being offended. We truly appreciate the comments from people who reached out to us in a respectful, thoughtful manner and believe the public has spoken. We are giving the tenant full approval to reinstate the original sign. In the future, we will follow the approval process outlined in the lease the tenant signed, so that we are all informed and on board for all future signs.”
Also on Friday, a group that had raised a question about the message weighed in on the controversy over the sign.
East Liberty Development Inc. wrote that the “social media firestorm” over the billboard unfairly sparked accusations of racism on the part of Ms. Picker. The letter said that Ms. Picker invested in East Liberty 20 years ago when others would not, bought and restored the dilapidated building, and supported Mr. Rubin in his project to have monthly messages created by artists on the sign.
“It is also frustrating that this firestorm started when we sent an email to both Mr. Rubin and Ms. Picker asking about the meaning of the message in question and suggesting that the message was ambiguous and could be considered tone deaf given the gentrification debate underway in the neighborhood .... We never demanded that the message be taken down, but simply asked how long it would remain.”
The billboard was part of “The Last Billboard” art project, a creation of Mr. Rubin, who specializes in contextual art. For the last eight years, it has broadcast various messages and currently rotates monthly, spotlighting a different artist each month. The “Black people in the future” message posted March 3 was the work of local artist Alisha Wormsley, building on her ongoing project of the same name.
Ms. Wormsley released a statement Friday. It said in part of her work: “I am deeply saddened by its removal. And yet I am comforted by how my Pittsburgh has stood up! I think we all know what it is to have discomfort. Let’s begin to work on methods to constructively investigate that discomfort without using power over anyone or anything else.”
She added: “ However you might feel, whatever you might think, THERE ARE BLACK PEOPLE IN THE FUTURE.”
First Published: April 6, 2018, 1:46 p.m.
Updated: April 6, 2018, 7:24 p.m.
