What have we done to our children? We express distress over their education. All those tests, a standardized curriculum. Our schools are “failing,” or so some say and charter schools are scamming in countless ways. We try to opt outkindergarten. Before High School dependant on where we live, as many as half of our youth dropout. Too many are off to prison. There are others whose lives end too quickly. Rarely do we speak about the children who left an impression; their bodies #chalked with their arms extended out. Perhaps it is time to talk about what is happening to our children inside of school and out.

St. Louis Artists Respond To Ferguson With Chalk

By Alex Heuer | Originally Published at St. Louis Radio. August 22, 2014 4:27 PM|The #ChalkedUnarmed team creates its artwork on the sidewalks outside of St. Louis Public Radio. | Credit Alex Heuer / St. Louis Public Radio

A group of artists are using chalk to inspire conversations about the shooting death of Michael Brown.

#ChalkedUnarmed draws chalk outlines of people on public sidewalks or plazas. The artist then adds the name of an unarmed black man who was killed by a police officer, with the date and location of his death.

Derek Laney, an organizer with Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment, and Mallory Nezam, director of STL Improv Anywhere and a public artist, joined us Friday to talk about #ChalkedUnarmed.

Listen | 8:51 “Cityscape”: #ChalkedUnarmed with Mallory Nezam and Derek Laney

“I’ve always been interested in using art to engage the public and get people involved in things that I think are important,” Nazem said.

Before the interview, a team of #ChalkedUnarmed enthusiasts tagged the sidewalk outside of St. Louis Public Radio.

“This is about an issue that is rampant, its epidemic – black men being killed by police and being racially profiled,” Laney said.

Cityscape is produced by Mary Edwards and Alex Heuer and sponsored in part by the Missouri Arts Council, the Regional Arts Commission, and the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis.

References and Resources for Introductory Missive…