<p>In the late 1990s, three monuments -- Crab Park<br><i>Boulder</i>, <i>Marker of Change</i>, and Standing <i>with<br>Courage, Strength and Pride</i> -- were built in<br>Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Located within a few city blocks<br>of one another, the monuments were grassroots initiatives that<br>challenged the norms of civic art by claiming a place in public space<br>for society's more vulnerable groups, and each figured in debates<br>about many kinds of violence.</p><br><br><p><i>Speaking for a Long Time</i> offers unique insights into the<br>creation of memorials and the multiple, often contested meanings that<br>can be attached to them in local communities. Part 1,<br>"Act," explores the monuments' origin stories and<br>highlights the distinctive perspectives of their founders. Part 2,<br>"Frame," places these narratives in the context of modern<br>debates and theories on public space and social memory. Part 3,<br>"Forge," returns to the Downtown Eastside to show how the<br>resilience and agency of grassroots activists can give the socially<br>marginalized a visible presence in our urban landscapes.</p><br><br>This vivid account of the creation of memory-scapes in a marginalized<br>community asks us to reconsider what constitutes public art that will<br>"speak for a long time."