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Akonadi Foundation

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Racial Justice Poster Project

Honoring March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

In observance of March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, we are sharing Akonadi Foundation’s 2020 Racial Justice Poster, Oakland Rises (End the Criminalization of Our People), by artist Natalia Anciso.

Akonadi Foundation distributed our first Racial Justice poster in 2008, to commemorate March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This day honors the Sharpeville massacre on March 21, 1960, when the South African anti-apartheid movement rose up in resistance against `pass’ laws. As part of the government’s efforts to segregate and control Black South Africans, these laws required Black South Africans to carry passbooks, or identity cards, at all times. On this day in the Sharpeville township, as movement leaders, elders, and children gathered in peaceful protest, police opened fire and killed 69 people, including 10 children. 

Through this poster project, we want to lift up the legacy of resistance, paying tribute to the artistic and cultural ambassadors engaged in the ongoing struggle for racial justice. 

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Oakland Rises (End the Criminalization of Our People), by artist Natalia Anciso

I was inspired to focus my piece, Oakland Rises (End the Criminalization of Our People), on the hope and determination that youth of color bring in the face of systemic racism and criminalization.

-Natalia Ancisco

Artist Statement

Juxtaposing beautifully colored, watercolor-drawn indigenous flowers of Northern California against stark, monochromatic images meticulously rendered in pen, I was inspired to focus my piece,  Oakland Rises (End the Criminalization of Our People) on the hope and determination that youth of color bring in the face of systemic racism and criminalization.

 As a Bay Area educator, I focus much of my work on inequities in the public education system, bringing to light issues such as school push-out, elementary genocide, and the school-to-prison pipeline. Narrative change is essential in combating racial discrimination and criminalization of youth and young adults of color. Oakland Rises (End the Criminalization of Our People) aims to encourage dialogue and action around these issues to help create change.   

I dedicate this piece to the youth and young adults of color in Oakland, who have been working to change up the narrative. We see you. We hear you.

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