Artist Matty Owens, 22, creates justice-themed artwork at the Dorchester Art Project in Fields Corner. (Courtesy Sam Correa)
On a corner in Egleston Square which I pass almost every day once stood an artistic statement: a mural that doubled as an epitaph and a vision board. The wall was adorned with subaltern messages that resonate to an audience today: "I have a dream." "Stop the violence." "I'll do what I can to survive." One local news station described it as a "social blackboard" and a "cry for happiness," the messages having been painted by local Puerto Rican street youth who called themselves the "X-Men."