Quik was one of the most influential graffiti artists in the Netherlands and he lived in Groningen for a considerable time.
His work is politically charged, often agitating against racism in the United States. This painting quotes the first lines of the W.E.B. Du Bois's 1905 poem The Song of the Smoke.
In 1895, Du Bois was the first African American to receive a PhD from Harvard University, with a thesis about transatlantic slave trade.
Du Bois was an advocate of African American civil rights and his poem is a powerful black pride statement.