Black Lives Matter Plaza on the 16th rue Washington, DC, is repainted following the abolition of lettering of a construction project on May 13, 2021.
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Washington, the emblematic “Black Lives Matter” Street Mural, which served as a powerful symbol of activism and a gathering place for joy and resistance, will soon be gone.
The decision to withdraw the huge wall near the White House comes after an American representative Andrew Clyde, R-GA. introduced legislation earlier this week which gave DC an ultimatum: either paint on the slogan or risk losing federal funding. The bill also asked that the DC downtown region is renowned for Black Lives Match Plaza in Liberty Plaza.
The next day, Bowser published a statement suggesting that the wall will have to leave. “Wall painting inspired millions of people and helped our city go through a very painful period, but now we cannot afford to be distracted by interference from the convention devoid of meaning,” she wrote. The DDOT confirmed on Saturday that the intention to withdraw the wall will start on Monday.
The mayor’s response marked a reversal: she initially declared that the work of art would be permanent.
City workers repent Black Lives Match Plaza on May 13, 2021.
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The wall was painted in 2020 after federal officers attacked DC demonstrators with tear gas
In June 2020, in the middle of a national outcry on death George Floyd, who was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis, the wall was created during the night.
He was in direct response to federal officers using tear gas against peaceful demonstrators on Place Lafayette de DC. The demonstrators had been eliminated shortly before President Trump crossed the park to the Saint-Jean church, where he posed a controversial photo session holding a Bible.
A few days later, the mayor of DC ordered a “Black Lives Matter” wall painting 48 feet wide near the altercation site. The street painting extended on two blocks from the 16th street, just north of the White House. The mayor also renamed the Black Lives Match Plaza region and appointed it only a pedestrian area. In all, the project cost more than $ 4 million.
“The symbolism is enormous. We say it hard. We are here. Maybe you haven’t heard ourselves before. Maybe you are confused. But the message is clear. Black Lives Matter, the end point,” Keyonna Jones, one of the artists who helped paint the wall, said at the Wamu member station in 2020.
The disclosure of mural painted fell on the birthday of Breonna Taylor, a black medical worker who was killed in March 2020 during a raid turned by Louisville police, Ky. “Breonna Taylor, the day of your birthday, wrote on Twitter on June 5, 2020.
The same evening, Trump went to Twitter and called Bowser “very incompetent, and in no case qualified to lead an important city like Washington, DC” later at night, Bowser published a fresco video and wrote: “We turned the day before for him, so he dreams of #Blacklivesmatter Plaza,” apparently referenced to Trump.
A place of protest, joy, mourning and where the member of the Congress John Lewis spent one of his last days
Place quickly became a popular meeting place for demonstrations. People have gathered or worked, for a range of reasons, including the defense of racial justice, the promotion of environmental justice, awareness of international issues and the celebration of Juneteenth.
People come together to celebrate Juneteenth at Black Lives Match Plaza near the White House on June 20, 2023.
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With Iman Saleh (left), the 12th day of a hunger strike for Yemen, looking at, representative Ilhan Omar, D-minn., Is expressed during a press conference in Black Lives Plaza calling for the end of American support for a blocking led by Saudi Arabia of Yemen on April 9, 2021.
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Aboriginal environmental activists cross Black Lives Match Plaza on the way to the White House as part of a protest against oil pipelines on April 1, 2021.
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Many also met to cry the loss of the leader in civil rights and a member of the John Lewis congress, who died in 2020. A year later, Bowser said that one of his most proud memories of the Plaza Black Lives Matter was when Lewis had seen the street painting before his death.
“He recognized Black Lives Match Plaza as well as good problems, and we know that there will remain a gathering place for reflection, planning and action, while we are working towards a more perfect union,” said Bowser in 2021.
The representative John Lewis of Georgia is seen in Black Lives Match Plaza on June 7, 2020.
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People meet at Black Lives Matter Plaza to watch the funeral procession for the Congress member and leader in civil rights John Lewis on July 27, 2020.
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The installation has received a decline over the years. After its creation, the DC chapter of Black Lives Matter called the fresco “a performative distraction” by the mayor, accusing him of rejecting Section calls to finance the police and invest in the community.
Friday, the group republished its initial complaints concerning the work of art and the mayor, adding: “We told you.”
But, at the national level, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation condemned the decision to remove the work of art.
“First, they attacked the critical theory of the race. Then they prohibited the books. Then, now they erase Black Lives Matz Plaza. Big Erry. You cannot erase the truth. The Republicans hate that they must pass by. I hate that it reminds them of our power,” the foundation wrote in a press release.
Philonise Floyd (on the left), George Floyd’s brother, kisses the Floyd family lawyer, Ben Crump, while the family visit Black Lives Match Plaza on May 25, 2021, a year’s birthday of George Floyd’s death.
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Jones, who helped paint the mural five years ago, told Wusa9 that she included the mayor’s decision and was proud of the impact that the wall had made in the short term.
“He talks about himself. People have traveled the world to see this,” said Jones earlier this week.
Under the motto “Light for our democracy”, people meet in Black Lives Match Plaza near the White House on March 4, 2025, to protest against the Trump administration.
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