INDIANAPOLIS — One local partnership is making strides in addressing racial disparity in the Indianapolis community.
“We’ve always felt free to sort of speak up for what we believe in,” said Kristin Kohn, owner of Silver in the City.
A staple on Mass Ave. in downtown Indy for 20 years, Silver in the City is now partnering with Elijah Norwood and his company 22 Starving Artist to sell his “equality” clothing line. The idea behind the design is exactly what it looks like: Equality. Whatever that means to you.
“I don’t really like to place too much meaning on it, but obviously from a Black man’s standpoint, I think it’s pretty clear what equality means and what I’m fighting for,” Norwood said. “A partnership like this shows that a little bit more of that fight is starting to be won.”
“Merchandise is a form of communication and a form of activism,” Kohn said. “So by him creating his line of equality tees and then us being able to sell them here, it helps spread his word, spread his message, more people out in the world see it, ask about it, talk about it and just gets more conversations going.”
It doesn’t stop there. A portion of the proceeds from the shirts will go into the store’s Silver Linings Fund: A philanthropic arm of Silver in the City, providing micro-grants of up to $1,500 to small grassroots organizations in the community, working on issues of racial disparity.
“A lot of our grants centered around food or farms and produce, after school programs to help with an education gap, homelessness,” said Kohn.
Kohn even allowed Norwood to help judge the grant recipients.
“To have a partnership that place that you know I was 17, 15, 16 walking in and out of here and couldn’t afford things then, now to be here on his walls, it’s life coming full circle and nothing but a dream,” said Norwood.
“It’s a sad issue that brought us together but I think that like so many people, we have been inspired to find ways to make a difference in our community,” Kohn said.
For more information, visit 22starvingartist.com.
