City of DC Paints Protester Slogan Next to White House as Possible Biggest Crowd Yet Forms
The District of Columbia ceremoniously painted the street leading to the White House with the bright-yellow words “Black Lives Matter” the day before crowds of protesters were expected to gather in response to George Floyd’s death while in police custody.
Artists with MuralsDC, a Department of Public Works project, and some volunteers painted the words on 16th street behind the White House on Friday, NPR reported.
The words were painted down a two-block stretch across Lafayette Square.
Holy cow. The city of DC is out here on 16th steeet behind the White House painting BLACK LIVES MATTER onto the streets — that it owns — stretching all the way to k Street. pic.twitter.com/PU7DW7XZHu
— Emily Badger (@emilymbadger) June 5, 2020
New York Times reporter Emily Badger said that the city used the same paint used to mark road lanes.
“When I asked them what they were doing, several city workers casually said ‘just paintin’ the streets,’ as if there was nothing else to say,” she tweeted.
The city was expecting one of its largest demonstrations ever, Reuters reported.
“We have a lot of public, open-source information to suggest that the event on this upcoming Saturday may be one of the largest we’ve ever had in the city,” Washington D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham told reporters.
Although the chief didn’t give an estimate, local media predicted tens of thousands of people would attend.
Marches and protests took place across the country on Friday and crowds formed overnight outside the White House, according to Reuters.
Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has repeatedly clashed with President Donald Trump about the response to the protests since Floyd’s death on May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, also renamed a street in front of the White House “Black Lives Matter Plaza.”
“There was a dispute this week about whose street this is,” Bowser’s chief of staff John Falcicchio tweeted.
“Mayor Bowser wanted to make it abundantly clear that this is DC’s street and to honor demonstrators who peacefully protesting on Monday evening.”
During a media conference on Friday, Bowser explained the reasoning behind this move.
“There are people who are craving to be heard and to be seen, and to have their humanity recognized, and we had the opportunity to send that message loud and clear on a very important street in our city,” Bowser said. “And it is that message, and that message is to the American people, that Black Lives Matter, black humanity matters, and we as a city raise that up as part of our values as a city.”
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