Tuesday night, the linework for a mural of David Josiah Lawson was painted in Arcata across the street from Cal Poly Humboldt, where Lawson attended until he was fatally stabbed at an off-campus house party in 2017. The mural will be painted over the next week on a large wall on the D Street Neighborhood Center. The mural will say “Justice for David Josiah Lawson” in Lawson’s own handwriting.
Artist Benjamin Funke created the font by observing the 19-year-old student’s handwriting on his homework. “This mural is just saying, hey, at the end of the day, we’re still going to fight for you and it’s just something so beautiful, just to see DJ’s presence amongst Humboldt where unfortunately, his life was taken,” said Ameera Acuna, Lawson’s aunt, reached by phone Wednesday. The mural’s painting coincides with Juneteenth, and those involved with organizing it hope for the process to be community-centered.
People can participate in the mural by painting pieces of it over the next week from around 10 a.m. to 6 p.
m., under the direction of Funke and Eureka artist Blake Reagan, who was tapped for his mural experience. “Part of the process is that the community contributes to the big picture.
It’s a community healing project,” said Funke, an art instructor at College of the Redwoods and Cal Poly Humboldt. The mural is part of an April 2021 settlement between the city of Arcata and Lawson’s family. The city settled for a mural, $200,000 and $25,000 donated to.
