Hateful Billboards to Greet Trump in Cleveland on Debate Night
Saturday, September 26, 2020
Artists Use Trump's Own Words and Actions to Shine Light on Trump, GOP Atrocities in Thought Provoking Billboard, Street Art Campaign:
Cleveland, OH -- In 2016, Donald Trump was coronated at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. This year, Cleveland plays host to the first Presidential Debate and the city will be sending a very different message to President Trump when he arrives next week for the first presidential debate of 2020. The RememberWhatTheyDid and #VoteThemOut campaign has launched nine anti-Trump billboards in the city and is posting thousands of street art posters ahead of the Presidential debate.
The billboards will greet President Trump and the national press corps as they descend on Cleveland for the first Presidential Debate on September 29th. The billboards which take on Trump’s failures on issues like Coronavirus, migrant children and police brutality line the route from the airport to downtown Cleveland and the major streets to hotels and the debate site on the Cleveland Clinic’s campus. With the debate’s location at world-renowned health institution the Cleveland Clinic, it is fitting that art work by former ICU nurse turned artist Nate Lewis and by legendary rock poster artist Justin Hampton focused on Trump’s failures on Coronavirus will be prominently displayed on the route to the Cleveland Clinic campus. The art features Trump’s own words “that’s going to sort of just disappear… I hope.” (July 2020) and “This is so unfair to me.” (May 2020) overlaid with jarring images of the utter devastation caused by Trump’s failures.
See the art and learn more here: https://rememberwhattheydid.com/
The RememberWhatTheyDid and #VoteThemOut campaign has launched dozens of billboards and posted thousands of street art posters across five battleground cities: Detroit, Michigan; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Cleveland, Ohio and Phoenix, Arizona.
Organized by Cleveland natives Scott Goodstein and Jeff Rusnak along with DC- based artist Robin Bell, known for his video projections on the Trump Hotel in DC, the campaign brings together leading artists from across the United States. The billboards and street art starkly portray the worst atrocities perpetrated by President Trump and his allies as part of a get out the vote and voter registration drive focused on young people, African American, and Latinx voters who are frequently underrepresented at the polls and not reached with traditional political advertising.
Viewers are urged to go to RememberWhatTheyDid.com, where they can pledge to vote, register to vote, learn about early voting or crowdfund more billboards in battleground communities across the country. A partner on the effort is Collective Super PAC, the SuperPAC affiliate of The Collective PAC which is dedicated to building Black political power with candidate support and nationwide voter registration and education campaigns. The Collective is working to create an America where Black people are equally represented at every level of government.
Artist |
Art |
Billboard Location |
Claudio Martinez |
Highway From Airport to Downtown - Near Downtown I-71 NS 1000ft East of Memphis Ave |
|
Shepard Fairey |
Police Brutality: "When the looting starts the shooting starts" |
Highway From Airport to Downtown - Near Airport I-71 North close to the airport (East side, 1MI North of I-480) |
Nate Lewis |
On the way to Debate Site - Near Cleveland Clinic Carnegie Ave. (SS 10ft W/O East 77 St) |
|
Nate Lewis |
On the way to Debate Site / Cleveland Clinic Chester Ave. (NS 50ft E/O East 59 St) |
|
Shepard Fairey |
Police Brutality: "When the looting starts the shooting starts" |
On the way to Debate Site Carnegie Ave. NS E/O East 40th |
Claudio Martinez |
Ohio City West 25th ST (West Side 130 ft North of Bridge Ave) |
|
Justin Hampton |
Innerbelt Frwy SS 100ft E/O West 3 St |
|
Justin Hampton |
On the way to Debate Site / Cleveland Clinic Carnegie Av SS 200ft W/O East 14 St |
|
Justin Hampton |
On the way to Debate Site / Cleveland Clinic Carnegie Av NS 200ft W/O East 46th |
“We are reminding voters of the harm Donald Trump has caused the Buckeye state through his word and actions. Think about what Donald Trump said. Think about what he did and ask yourself is this your America?” said Jeff Rusnak, a co-founder of Artists United for Change and a longtime Cleveland strategist.
“No Republican has won the White House without Ohio and it’s clear Trump and Pence are worried and with good reason. But to vote them out, we all need to stand up and be counted. Some forty percent of voters aren’t reached by the usual voter-file matched political advertising and many of these voters are in communities that are underrepresented at the polls. So we are bringing our message to the streets because in an election year this important, we cannot allow any of our communities to be overlooked,” said co-founder and Cleveland native Scott Goodstein.
“These images are a stark reminder of the atrocities perpetrated by this President and his allies. We are connecting what has been said and done with the importance of voting. Our message is simple: Remember what they did and vote them out,” said campaign co-founder Robin Bell.
“The Covid pandemic coupled with continued police brutality brought to the surface inequities across race and gender in every facet of American life. This reckoning with America’s racist legacy has been led by young activists who have taken the movement for Black Lives to the streets. The artwork embodies the energy of these young activists in an effort to connect to communities on a visceral level and to move everyone to the voting booth in November,” said artist Nekisha Durrett.
“Life imitates art, and the images we see have a direct impact on our democracy. The Collective is proud to work with the Artists United for Change community as they depict what we are all feeling – the need for change and realizing that change come November 3rd,” said Quentin James, Founder and President of The Collective.
The RemememberWhatTheyDid campaign is a project of Artists United for Change.
See the art and learn more here: https://rememberwhattheydid.com/