The work to remove D.C.’s Black Lives Matter Plaza is nearly complete.
News4 video shows solid paint where huge yellow letters spelled out “Black Lives Matter” three weeks earlier.
"It's really sad to see that the whole block has been removed because it shows there’s not so much of a difference between federal government and D.C. the city anymore,” D.C. resident Taylor Elop said Monday night at the former plaza.
Mayor Muriel Bowser announced on March 4 that the two-block-long, curb-to-curb letters painted in 2020 would be painted over. She acknowledged she made the decision in the face of pressure from the White House.
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The creation of Black Lives Matter Plaza was an act of defiance during Trump's first term, when streets in D.C. and across the U.S. erupted with protests after the murder of George Floyd.
Bowser ordered the letters painted on 16th Street, just north of the White House.
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 earlier this month. “But now our focus is on making sure our residents and our economy survives.”
The fate of more than $1 billion in D.C.’s own funds is still uncertain, after Congress ordered a funding cut. Trump said the House should approve a fix, but the vote has not yet been held. Bowser and city leaders say the cut would devastate city services, the police department and schools.
A day before work to erase the plaza began, members of one of the country’s oldest Black fraternities gathered there and sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
“We recognize why it has to be done. We support the local officials. But we want it to be known: You can erase this, but you cannot erase our history,” Kappa Alpha Psi member Richard Mattox said.
Work to fully remove Black Lives Matter Plaza is expected to be complete by the end of the week. All that’s left is for crews to lay down lane stripping.
The D.C. Department of Transportation said the project moved quickly because the weather cooperated.
The removal is costing D.C. taxpayers $610,000.
"It's really sad to see that's where our money is going when we have so many other really bad issues going on in the country,” D.C. resident Nebeela Ahmed said.
Two black street signs that say Black Lives Matter Plaza will be kept as part of DDOT's archives, a spokesperson said. No decision has been made yet on what will happen to the other two signs.
"I heard the plaza was gone and I did not believe it,” content creator Dejon Campbell said. “I didn't want to believe it."
News4 saw a few people looking out on the former plaza on Monday night, including Campbell.
"This is a symbol that we need to keep fighting,” Campbell said. “We need to keep showing up. We need to keep voting. We need to keep making sure that our voices are heard."
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