16 artists each paint a letter to spell out Black Lives Matter on a mural in Petaluma

PETALUMA, Calif. -- With protests about racial injustice and systemic racism sweeping the nation, the small Northern California town of Petaluma wanted to participate in the conversation.

"It was very important that Petaluma figure out a way to be having that dialogue, so members of the community suggested that Petaluma do a Black Lives Matter mural," Petaluma Planning Manager Heather Hines said. 16 diverse artists were asked to paint one of the 16 different letters in Black Lives Matter.

"Each individual letter was an expression of an individual artist," Hines added, "Each of these artists has just amazing stories of something that's happened in their life or somebody they love or just how they're dealing with racial injustice, systemic racism."