“We The People” posters hung around WHS

We+The+People+posters+hung+around+WHS

Natalie Hsu

Walking down the hallway, you see posters with shades of red, white, and blue peeking at you through the open doors to classrooms. Shepard Fairey’s “We The People” posters have been placed around Wayland High School. English teacher Sara Snow began to spread the posters around the school when she attended the Women’s March in Boston and heard they were available to print online.

“It started with the Women’s March,” Snow said. “These posters were around, and then someone told me, I can’t remember who, that they have been designed by the famous street artist Shepard Fairey and that he was offering them free to people to download and print.”

“I went to the Women’s March the day after Trump’s inauguration and I saw [the posters] there and they’re beautiful,” history teacher Eva Urban-Hughes said. “I know who Shepard Fairey is because he did the really famous Obama print that said ‘Hope,’ which became sort of his flagship.”

Snow printed the posters with a big printer at school and thought it would be nice to give them to other teachers in other departments.

“Ms. Urban-Hughes was very enthusiastic when she saw the posters,” Snow said. “She came running into the office, and I was in the middle of grading exams, and she said, ‘You’ve got to show me how to use the machines, the printer.’ And so she ran upstairs and said, ‘Oh my god these are so amazing.’”

Snow was able to put up posters with the aid of principal Allyson Mizoguchi, who was able to endorse the effort with funding for ink cartridges.

“I basically gave [a copy to Ms. Mizoguchi]. I printed them out and then took them to the art teacher…. I went to Staples and bought the cardboard backing, and I took them to her and she showed how to glue them on really nicely. And to get to the art room, I had to go past Ms. Mizoguchi’s office, and she said, “Oh, what are you doing?” I showed her and asked, “Which one would you like?” And she chose one,” Snow said.

According to Snow, students may be afraid to say anything against the posters since they may feel they have a minority opinion, but she hopes to have an open debate with them about the posters in the future.

“I should ask all my students because we have to have a free and open debate; we can’t always assume that we have moral superiority, and even though the posters really do depict equality, like gender equality, and cultural and ethnic equality, we can’t assume, especially in the age of Trump, that that is what is right for everyone,” Snow said.