WBRC-TV | Birmingham - Real Family Funeral Depicted as MasterCard 'Priceless' Ad

From a broadcast on the Fox affiliate in Birmingham: http://www.myfoxal.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=4013025&version=4&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1


And Hank's response in the Sunday, August 12, Birmingham News:

In July, Hank Willis Thomas' Priceless #1 was installed on an exterior wall of the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama. The 2004 work, a recent acquisition by the museum, sparked immediate controversy, chiefly because city residents believed the piece was an actual advertisement that disparaged African Americans. In response, Thomas wrote the following commentary, which appeared as an op-ed piece in the Sunday, August 12 edition of the Birmingham News.

Twenty-seven year-old Songha Thomas Willis was shot dead, execution style, in front of dozens of people during a robbery in which he did not resist. His friends were robbed for their gold chains. Nothing was taken from Songha but his life. That was on February 2, 2000--the day I lost my best friend, roommate, cousin, and for all intents and purposes, big brother.

"The worst part of it all is that we don't even have to ask if the killer was black," was the first thing a friend said on hearing the news. The murderer was caught three months later after committing another robbery-murder at the same club in Philadelphia on another Tuesday Hip-hop night. Why do it again? I have struggled for eight years to find creative ways to deal with my cousin's murder and the senseless violence, genocide if you will, between African-American males.

According to Bureau of Justice statistics, in 2005 blacks were six times more likely to be murdered than whites, and 94% of black victims were killed by other blacks. The overwhelming number of victims and offenders were young black males. How is it that less than six percent of the population could make up for the overwhelming number of homicide victims and offenders in this country? We are too often seen as an amorphous or archetypal group. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Or more damaging.

In July, the Birmingham Museum of Art installed "Priceless #1," a deeply personal piece for me. (It has also been exhibited in San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, Miami and Charlotte.) The photograph was taken at Songha's funeral. Later, I added text to say what the picture alone cannot. I remember standing in the funeral home with my family, trying to figure out which would pay better homage to my cousin's life: the $2,000 casket that would be thrown in the dirt or the $5,000 casket that would be thrown in the dirt. It was an impossible decision. My cousin was killed over a petty commodity and here we were being marketed to and going into debt during the grieving process. $10,000 for a funeral? He owed that much in college loans he couldn't even repay.

His funeral was the most ethnically, racially, culturally and economically diverse place I have ever been. I told the 700 people who came to say good-bye that their presence was the greatest gift to my cousin and family, and to remember that every time they hear about yet "another black male homicide," they should know that it was probably somebody just like Songha: a normal black man. Not a criminal. Not a hustler. Not a drug addict. (Though they are all someone's children, too.)

All too often, I explain my cousin was murdered and people, both black and white, give that "what did he do?" look. And I feel anger and guilt, because I can hardly blame them for thinking that way about people who look like him and me. In the 80s and 90s, a lot of young African American men were getting killed over Michael Jordan sneakers. Today, they're getting killed over gold chains, looks, and words. All things considered--Darfur, Rwanda, Nigeria, Chicago, New Orleans--it is fair to assume no one cares much about another dead black man.

From 1865 to 1965, more than 2,400 African Americans were lynched in the United States of America. Between 2003 and 2007, nearly 3,700 US soldiers were killed in combat in the so-called war against terrorism. In 2003 alone, there were 6,912 African American homicide victims. Lynching a black man is no longer acceptable. Debate rages over the loss of life in Iraq. But the past 30 years are arguably the most hostile times for black men since the abolition of slavery. They also have been the most economically and socially rewarding. How could this be?

"Art" means something different to me since Songha died. I want to commemorate, provoke thought, and indict the viewers of my work as well as myself. I try to make pieces that get people talking about these issues. As a means to reach a broader audience, I often use the language of advertising to identify and examine the complexity of challenges and ideas that exists in my community and country. When one person dies, dozens if not hundreds of people are directly affected and, in an instant, connected by the shared experience of loss. My work is for them, about them. We all should be looking for answers, or at least better questions. Something has to change.