DENVER, Colo. -- As tensions continue to grow between police and the communities they serve, a new bright yellow mural in Denver's RiNo Art District is tackling the issue head on.
Cold Crush bar, located off 27th Street and Larimer Street, had a local artist paint the "Bad Cop vs. Good Cop" mural last week.
Co-owner and art director, Mussa Bailey, said they hope it will start a conversation, and get people talking about how law enforcement and the community can better co-exist.
"This is my business, this is my community. I live up the street, I'm from east Denver, hopefully it's a way to open conversation that's really all we wanted to do," said Bailey.
The mural is a play on the old boxing match posters.
The top of the poster says, "A classic ongoing battle between good and evil" followed by "A classic fight: Bad Cop vs. Good Cop."
"Not so much that we want to see the police fight each other, but it just made sense to pose it as that," Bailey said.
The mural says one has respect for human life, while the other kills innocent civilians.
"That's the statement we're trying to make, it's not as black and white so to speak, as all cops are good or all cops are bad," said Bailey. "The purpose is to open up a dialogue about police, about the community, and about how these two things can maybe co-exist a little bit better."
So far, Bailey said it appears to be working.
"I've heard people tell me they love it, I've had people tell me they don't really understand it -- whether or not you understand it or don't, you're talking about it," he said.
Bailey said his company is not trying to take a side, instead they're trying to use art to make people uncomfortable in hopes of sparking real change.
"A lot of people are stuck in their ways, but when you become uncomfortable you have to adapt to a situation, and I think that opens up the potential for change," he said.
It's the tenth mural Cold Crush has put up since it opened a few years ago. Bailey said not all of them have been political, but they felt this message needed to be out there.
