Their instructions were simple: Paint messages of love, peace and encouragement.
Booker T. Washington High School students, Neiman Marcus employees, artists from the community and some random passersby are using the downtown Dallas luxury store’s boarded-up windows as a canvas for positive messages in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Students from Dallas’ arts magnet high school for the performing and visual arts used paint and heartfelt words to dress up the plywood on windows that usually display mannequins sporting the latest fashions.
“You are heard” was painted around an eye. Only bright colors of blue, fuchsia, yellow and orange were used to highlight messages such as “Love = Black Lives Matter,” “Listen Learn Love” and “Bigotry ≠ Progress.”
The store’s 20 windows along Main, Akard and Commerce streets were damaged on the first night of protests in Dallas that turned destructive nine days ago. The gatherings in the street of thousands of people in cities nationwide have now returned to a peaceful cadence as protesters continue to call for an end to brutality against black people. The protests are a response to the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and others before him.
The store’s 20 windows along Main, Akard and Commerce streets were damaged on the first night of protests in Dallas that turned destructive nine days ago. The gatherings in the street of thousands of people in cities nationwide have now returned to a peaceful cadence as protesters continue to call for an end to brutality against black people. The protests are a response to the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and others before him.
“This is an opportunity to bring beauty to our city and our communities, to show Neiman’s support to the Black Lives Matter movement, and to let our voices be heard that we are fighting racism and injustice with love and kindness,” Seikaly said.
Neiman Marcus CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck sent employees a video of staff members expressing their feelings and shared experiences. He encouraged employees to listen to one another, Seikaly said. The high school students said in an interview Sunday that they didn’t understand why racism wasn’t eradicated decades ago and believe in the effectiveness of their newfound collective voices.
For Dallas, Neiman Marcus has a long history of speaking out. It’s been more than a chain of 43 luxury department stores that’s headquartered here.
After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Stanley Marcus published a controversial letter to the city in a full-page newspaper advertisement, suggesting that Dallas needed to become more accepting of different points of view. He wrote an editorial under a headline: “What’s Right with Dallas?” Later, he explained that he wrote positively instead of critically about the city so as not to risk dividing Dallas.
By just remaining open in downtown Dallas for more than a century, the retailer, founded in Dallas in 1907, has been a catalyst for commerce during downtown’s heyday and later when retailers abandoned city centers for suburban malls.
The downtown store hasn’t reopened since it was closed in mid-March for the coronavirus pandemic.
Some worry that the downtown store might not ever reopen.
When asked, Seikaly said, “We are working to reopen all 43 Neiman Marcus stores in the coming weeks.”
