WATCH: Workers Begin Dismantling D.C.’s Black Lives Matter Plaza
MAGA OVER MATTERS
“The mural inspired millions of people and helped our city through a very painful period, but now we can’t afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference,” said D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser.
Workers began removing Washington, D.C.‘s famed “Black Lives Matter” street mural on Monday, in the latest fallout from anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) sabre rattling by Republican politicians. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the decision last week shortly after after House Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) introduced a bill that would force the city to get rid of the mural or risk losing its funding from the federal government. “The mural inspired millions of people and helped our city through a very painful period, but now we can’t afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference,” Bowser wrote on X. The mural covers a two-block-long pedestrian stretch of 16th Street NW in downtown Washington with the letters of the iconic social justice movement’s name painted in 35-foot-tall letters. Clyde’s legislation also calls on the city to rename the two blocks to Liberty Plaza from Black Lives Matter Plaza. The mural was drawn by D.C. Department of Public Works staff in June 2020, during the nationwide protests that followed the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has moved to shut down diversity initiatives across the federal government and remove symbols seen as endorsing DEI.
