In a sign that national unrest after the death of George Floyd is changing things both big and small, Time hit an unusual milestone Thursday: The magazine’s iconic red border had words in it for the first time ever and those words were the names of 35 black people whose deaths were the result of systemic racism.
Many of those whose names appear around the edge of the cover — which will appear on Friday’s edition of the weekly — were killed by police and their deaths, according t0 Time, were not only caused by systemic racism, but “helped fuel the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.”
The names on the cover are these: Trayvon Martin, Yvette Smith, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Laquan McDonald, Tanisha Anderson, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice, Jerame Reid, Natasha McKenna, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, William Chapman, Sandra Bland, Darrius Stewart, Samuel DuBose, Janet Wilson, Calin Roquemore, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Joseph Mann, Terence Crutcher, Chad Robertson, Jordan Edwards, Aaron Bailey, Stephon Clark, Danny Ray Thomas, Antwon Rose, Botham Jean, Atatiana Jefferson, Michael Dean, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.
“Their names are merely a fraction of the many more who have lost their lives because of the racist violence that has been part of this nation from its start,” said a release from the magazine.
The cover is a painting from Titus Kaphar, who also contributed a painting to Time when similar protests took place in 2014 after police killed unarmed black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Kaphar’s newest work features a black mother holding her baby, but the canvas has been cut out where her baby should be, signifying her loss.
“This black mother understands the fire. Black mothers understand despair. I can change nothing in this world, but in paint, I can realize her. That brings me solace … not hope, but solace. She walks me through the flames of rage. My black mother rescues me yet again. I want to be sure that she is seen. I want to be certain that her story is told. And so this time, America must hear her voice,” he said of the piece.
TIME's new cover: Say their names https://t.co/nOM5sqwVkS pic.twitter.com/tgzEcLn2ds
— TIME (@TIME) June 4, 2020