Personal injury attorney Kevin Kelley’s law firm is located in the old Hart Furniture building next door to the Majestic Theatre downtown. For the past two years, he’s also owned the building next door, best known for being the home of the Medusa club.
On Saturday, Kelley and his two sons, Kevin and Kristian, watched from the law office as protesters marched down Elm Street. Inspired, Kelley’s sons said they wanted to find a way to speak out, too. The picture windows surrounding their dad’s building are often wrapped in advertising. Why not fill them with a positive message of support, the boys suggested.
So Kelley got to work with his advertising team, and they in turn got in touch with artist Nikkolas Smith to create a series of six murals. The first three will say “Stop Killing Blacks.” The second three will say “We Are One.” Kelley says he’s an impatient guy and he wishes they were all up already, but the plan is for them to be complete by tonight.
“We were amazed at the efforts of the protesters, so we decided to have the bottom of the building wrapped in a message of solidarity for everybody,” Kelley says. “We want to have the police stop by and have a conversation. We want to memorialize those that we’ve lost. We wanted to be creative and a find a way to support what is going on in any way that we can.
“In short — there are too many people like me who sit in buildings and high rises and watch the protests from afar. This was our opportunity to get involved.”
