By New York Post (Politics) | Created at 2025-03-10 20:31:17 | Updated at 2025-03-10 22:52:45
2 hours ago
Work to dismantle the Black Lives Matter Plaza street mural in Washington, DC, that was put up in 2020 following the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor began on Monday.
Reconstruction at the site of the huge, yellow-painted letters close to the White House follows calls to withhold the city’s funding unless it removed the mural and renamed the location “Liberty Plaza.”
The “evolution” of Black Lives Matter Plaza on 16th Street NW just north of Lafayette Square and the White House was first announced by DC’s Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser.
The project is part of DC’s America 250 mural scheme, “where we will invite students and artists to create new murals across all eight wards,” she added.
“The mural inspired millions and helped our city through a very painful period,” Bowser said.
“But now we can’t afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference. The devastating impacts of the federal job cuts must be our number one concern. Our focus is on economic growth, public safety, and supporting our residents affected by these cuts.”
Plans by House Republicans to scrub the divisive BLM mural were revealed in a Post exclusive earlier this month.
Monday’s dismantling of the mural was greeted with triumph by many conservatives — and slammed by those on the left.
“The world is healing,” wrote the Libs of TikTok account on X, run by pro-Trump influencer Chaya Raichik.
“The divisive road graffiti in Washington DC is finally being removed,” wrote another X account, adding that the plaza “should be renamed something patriotic or inclusive for EVERYONE.”
Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington DC is being dismantled as we speak! And yes, before anyone asks, I voted for this,” conservative influencer Jaimee Michell wrote on the platform.
But others slammed the move as nothing more than pandering to the right.
“Demolishing Black Lives Matter Plaza is a juvenile attempt to distract from Trump’s diplomatic and economic ineptitude — and please his bigoted base,” one X user wrote.
“The only people celebrating the dismantling of the Black Lives Matter Plaza in DC are racist fragile white people,” wrote another.
Replacement of the plaza was brought forward by Bowser after a media outlet questioned her about it, the mayor said during a “tele-townhall” last week.
A bill introduced last week by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) aims to “withhold certain apportionment funds from the District of Columbia unless the Mayor of the District of Columbia removes the phrase Black Lives Matter from the street symbolically designated as Black Lives Matter Plaza, redesignates such street as Liberty Plaza, and removes such phrase from each website, document, and other material under the jurisdiction of the District of Columbia.”
Bowser has said she doesn’t support the bill, known as H.R. 1774.
Work is expected to take six to eight weeks to complete, according to a statement from the District Department of Transportation (DDOT).
The current large yellow letters on the street were first painted in the summer of 2020 during President Trump’s first term following days of protests after the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky., both at the hands of police officers.
Bowser personally approved the street art following clashes with the Trump administration over who owned the street.
The letters were repainted in May 2021 after the street was repaved, and the street was officially recognized as Black Lives Matter Plaza by city authorities.
