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In 2017, African American football players started taking the knee when the American national anthem was played before the start of a game. It was an act of peaceful protest, calling attention to African Americans being disproportionately targeted by, and killed at the hands of law enforcement officers.

I learned that kneeling in humble submission by the disenfranchised has a long history. Most prominently, the American civil rights legend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., took the knee in 1965 while leading a group of non-violent activists, marching for black voting rights. That moment of prayer, and this profound gesture has since become emblematic of peaceful resistance.

This painting was inspired by a photograph capturing this moment. I painted the honorable Reverend 46 times, the number of players in an American football team.

The title “Shall our blood fail?” is a line from ‘Sunday Morning’, a poem by Wallace Stevens.

Deepa Bala

deepecon@gmail.com