A heartfelt thank you to The Murph and Mary Hooks for inviting the Refaat Mobile Library collective to leave a mark on the Multi-Use Radical People’s Hall, one of the most significant spaces for organizing and resistance in the city of Atlanta.
And especially for using my drawing.
The mural is a tribute to Refaat Alareer, a Palestinian poet and professor, a man I came to know through his words and his dedication. Refaat Alareer visited #Atlanta in 2015. The mural is a replica of the one created in the Krog Street Tunnel, dedicated to Refaat and his poem “If I Must Die.” Though short, this poem deeply moved me. Written in 2011, according to his friend Yousef M. Aljamal, it was Refaat’s testament to the world. It speaks of his love for life, how he knew that death would be imposed upon him, and yet, in his death, he sought to inspire change, a gesture of hope. Illustrating these words, these emotions, is a powerful and moving process, a way to bring his visual and poetic legacy into a space that embodies collective struggles for justice.
“IF I MUST DIE” BY REFAAT ALAREER
If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze—
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself—
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love
If I must die
let it bring hope
let it be a tale
