Rededication of Bernard LaCasse's Beat the Belt Mural
5:15 PM - 6:30 PM Thursday, September 28, 2017
Location:
730 Memorial Drive, Cambridge 02139 (in Trader Joe's parking lot)
Remarks by Charlie Sullivan, Executive at the Cambridge Historical Commission and artist Bernie LaCasse.
Live music by mural-loving member of the School of HONK!
Refreshments provided by Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.
This summer Cambridge Arts worked with artist Bernard LaCasse to repaint his Beat The Belt mural. The artwork tells the story of the "Inner Belt,” a mid-20th century proposal by the U.S. Federal Government for an eight-lane highway that would have looped around downtown Boston and gone right through the neighborhood of Cambridgeport, destroying hundreds of buildings and displacing thousands of people. Residents battled the highway until winning the fight in 1970, when Gov. Francis Sargent ordered work halted on the project. LaCasse's mural, completed in 1980, depicts a crowd of people blocking a bulldozer to commemorate this moment of triumph and honor the power of ordinary people to make a difference. Come see the painting restored to its original bold colors and celebrate the ongoing history of activism here in Cambridge.
My hope is that this mural will inspire people to get angry, get organized, and get in the way.
-Bernard LaCasse, 2017