An aerial view shows a Black History Matters street mural. The letters are painted in a variety of vibrant colors, with different patterns and designs filling each one. The mural is on an asphalt street, flanked on both sides by green trees and grass. — Black History Matters street mural outside the Woodson African American Museum of Florida in St. Petersburg, Florida. Credit: Photo via cityofstpete/Flickr

If you’re pissed off about the FDOT-approved removal of the “Black History Matters” street mural on 9th Avenue, a benefit concert held by members of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement is happening at Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg this weekend.

Along with the likes of friendly neighborhood punk soul heroes Pilot Jonezz, hardcore punk quartet Flag Burner, and St. Pete street punk band Dissentors, the church’s Rev. Benedict Atherton-Zeman—one of the two pastors arrested for attempting to block FDOT machinery from going forward with the removal last week—will be speaking at the concert.

James “Freeman” Kitchens, who had a hand in creating the mural in 2023, will also be doing a live painting on site, and the artwork will be auctioned off by the end of the night.

“All of the programs of the Black Star Industries are designed to overturn conditions of genocide that are caused by the system of colonialism that oppresses and exploits African people on the continent and everywhere they have been forcibly dispersed to benefit the white population. This is the same colonial system that is committing genocidal slaughter in Gaza,” a press release reads, preceded by thoughts from Uhuru organizer Jamie Simpson. “This benefit is a tribute to the Black community’s struggle for liberation and stands unconditionally opposed to the government’s attempts to erase the history and the very existence of the Black community in the city of St. Petersburg.”

Tickets to the Artists Against Genocide benefit at Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg on Saturday, Sept. 6 are still available and cost $10.