New Orleans mayor unveils 24 foot tall “Black power hair pick”

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell unveiled a 24-foot-tall steel hair pick in the city’s Lafayette Square. The handle includes a black fist. It is being called the “Black power hair pick” and will remain on public display from June 17th to July 12th. It is one of three pieces of Black activist artwork currently being displayed in New Orleans from the group Monumental Tour. The other two pieces include a glass box representing a jail cell and a set of steel hands.

The display of this artwork is being sponsored by The City of New Orleans Office of Cultural Economy, The City of New Orleans Tourism and Cultural Fund, The New Orleans Essence Festival of Culture, and a few local businesses.

At the unveiling, Mayor Cantrell boasted that the city had purchased artwork from sixty Black artists. She said another $7.2 million had been earmarked for more art.

When asked by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, a spokesman for Cantrell declined to say how much the city paid to have the giant hair pick on display.