Catalogue Number
NMLH.2025.30.1
Object Name
placard
Title
'Today I pledge to #LoveLikeJo'
Place
Batley and Spen, Birstall, West Yorkshire
People
Jo Cox MP, Labour Party, Jo Cox Foundation, Drue Kataoka (artist)
Events
Murder of Jo Cox, Brexit
Description
A white placard with a line drawing of Jo Cox wearing a red t-shirt. Text reads 'Today I pledge to #LoveLikeJo. I will [blank]' with a printed message in Jo Cox's handwriting beneath the blank line. 'Far more unites us than divides us - Jo Cox 1974-2016'
This placard was designed by the artist Drue Kataoka, a Japanese American visual artist and political commentator shortly after the murder of Jo Cox, the MP for Batley and Spen on 16 June 2016. Cox, one of the youngest MPs in Parliament, was shot and stabbed by white supremacist neo-Nazi Thomas Alexander Mair while she travelled to her constituency surgery. As a pro-EU, anti-Brexit and pro-migrant MP, Mair viewed Cox as a "collaborator" and race traitor, and intentionally murdered her as an act of terrorism. Eyewitnesses reported Mair shouting "keep Britain independent" and "this is for Britain" during the attack, which is viewed as proof Ms Cox was targeted for her political views.
Following her murder, there was a huge public outpouring of grief and Jo Cox's husband and family led campaigns for community cohesiveness, founding the Jo Cox Foundation. Communities gathered on 22 June, which would have been Cox's 42nd birthday, and this placard was used extensively and globally at memorials on that date. The artist recalls, "While working on the portrait, I watched Joâs maiden speech to parliament over and over again; her words echoed in my ears, âWe are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.â"
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