Once declared ‘permanent,’ Washington D.C.’s Black Lives Matter Plaza will soon be painted over

[ResidentialBusiness]

At the height of the summer of 2020’s “racial reckoning,” bright yellow paint filled the streets just north of the White House. Overnight, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser had ordered a giant street mural to say “Black Lives Matter” in 35-foot capital lettering.

That street art became the center of Black Lives Matter Plaza, and a few months later, D.C.’s City Council voted that the name and mural would become a permanent fixture of the city. Five years, two elections, and a large cultural shift later, Mayor Bowser has announced that BLM Plaza will be painted over.

“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 said in a statement published Tuesday. 

The move is one small piece of the Trump administration’s continued attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Volunteers painting “Black Lives Matter” on the street near the White House on June 05, 2020. [Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images]

At a Wednesday press conference, Bowser told reporters that there were “bigger fish to fry” within the nation’s capital. She also confirmed to NBC that her decision came after talks with the White House, but she did not specify anything further.

Bowser’s office did not respond to Fast Company’s request for comment.

Republican Rep. Andy Clyde introduced legislation Monday that would withhold apportionment funds from D.C. until Mayor Bowser renamed BLM Plaza to Liberty Plaza. However, Bowser said at the press conference that her decision had been made before Clyde introduced the bill. 

She added that a replacement mural will focus on America’s 250th birthday, and a new name would be decided after “citywide discussion.”

Scholars at University of Illinois once argued that BLM Plaza is an important landmark that is a “powerful symbolic reinsertion of widespread social and civic support for Black struggle.” They wrote that it can be dignifying for people of color to see such affirmative support “in an area of the U.S.’ most politically prominent real estate.”

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