D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is defending her decision to paint over Black Lives Matter Plaza. Bowser announced on Tuesday plans to remove the large yellow lettering that’s been a landmark in the city since it was installed in 2020.
The mayor acknowledged on Wednesday she made the move after pressure from the White House.
The creation of Black Lives Matter Plaza was an act of defiance in 2020 during President Donald Trump's first term, when the streets of the country, and in D.C., were erupting in civil protest following the murder of George Floyd.
Bowser ordered the giant letters painted on the street just north of the White House.
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But now in Trump's second term, Bowser is less defiant.
“We have bigger fish to fry than fights over what has been very important to us and to the history, and especially in our ability to keep our city safe during that time, that mural played a very important part,” she said. “But now our focus is on making sure our residents and our economy survives.”
Bowser was candid that her decision to paint over Black Lives Matter Plaza came after talks with the White House.
“Well, I'm not going to talk about specifics, about my conversations, but I think it's safe to say that people don't like it, didn't like it. It's safe to say, you can imagine that, yes,” she said.
Bowser made it clear her decision came before Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia filed legislation that would D.C. to paint over the plaza or risk losing federal transportation funding.
“My intention was to announce this with our next America 250 commission meeting, which will be later this month,” she said. “So while the announcement came a little bit sooner than I had planned, the decision had been made.”
As for Clyde’s legislation requiring the city to rename the area Liberty Plaza and erase any mention of Black Lives Matter Plaza, Bowser said, “We expect to have a discussion, a citywide discussion, about how we will honor the nation's semiquincentennial, and we expect it to be a part of that discussion, but we don't support the congressman's bill.”
The mayor said she plans to replace the Black Lives Matter mural with another mural related to the nation’s 250th birthday, but she provided no details on when the current lettering would be removed.
News4 reached out to Clyde's office to ask if the mayor’s move impacts his legislation. In a written statement, the congressman said: “I’m very pleased that within one day of introducing my bill to rename BLM Plaza, Mayor Bowser announced plans to do just that. My focus remains on ensuring this woke, divisive slogan is removed and no longer stains the streets of America’s capital city, and I will continue pursuing my effort until BLM Plaza is officially gone for good.”
Painting over the mural is emotional for many Black Americans, Loyola University Maryland professor Kaye Wise Whitehead told News4. She said she expects challenges across the country to “any visual markers dealing with freedom, representation, diversity, equity and inclusion.”
