“Malcolm X said the Black woman is the most oppressed person in this country, and that has not changed,” Detroit artist Sydney James said, standing in front of the 8,000 square-foot western wall of the Chroma building she and her team transformed this fall. When she was commissioned to create a mural to cover the empty wall, James referenced a familiar scene; Vermeer’s 17th-century oil on canvas “Girl With the Pearl Earring.” She used the iconic painting as a vehicle to tell a different story; one she said is not told often enough.