This piece comments on unity within the black community. Many national events have led to a lack of unity, but over the years, African Americans have grown stronger in understanding and supporting one another. In this piece, two trees stand much taller than the rest: the tree in the front symbolizes appreciation while the tree in the back symbolizes understanding. A rope that was holding the two trees steady breaks in the foreground. A monkey grabs one end of the rope in an attempt to save the tree of appreciation from falling. The breaking rope represents the severing of ties between Africans and African Americans and the fragmenting of families during the slave trade. It also represents the divide in the African American community that results from colorism and implicit racial biases.
