{"id":10115,"date":"2025-03-11T11:18:30","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T03:18:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10115"},"modified":"2025-03-11T11:18:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T03:18:33","slug":"more-than-brick-and-mortar-dc-begins-removing-black-lives-matter-plaza-near-the-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10115","title":{"rendered":"‘More than brick and mortar:’ DC begins removing ‘Black Lives Matter’ plaza near the White House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Black Lives Matter Trump\u00a9\u00a0Jacquelyn Martin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Starlette Thomas remembers coming down almost daily to the intersection of 16th and H streets, to protest police brutality and systemic racial iniquities during the summer of 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, the 45-year old Bowie, Maryland resident returned to the site of those protests to mourn the end of Black Lives Matter Plaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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APTOPIX Black Lives Matter Trump\u00a9\u00a0Jacquelyn Martin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI needed to be here today. I can\u2019t just let this go away,\u201d Thomas said, as jackhammers began tearing into the giant yellow letters in the street. Thomas discretely secured a chunk of pavement and said holding it made her feel conflicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo walk away with a piece of that, it means it\u2019s not gone,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s more than brick and mortar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crews started work Monday to remove the large yellow \u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d painted on the street one block from the White House. D.C. Mayor\u00a0Muriel Bowser<\/a>\u00a0announced the change last week\u00a0in response<\/a>\u00a0to pressure from Republicans in Congress. The work is expected to take about six weeks and the words will be replaced by an unspecified set of city-sponsored murals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The painting of those words was an act of government-sponsored defiance during President\u00a0Donald Trump’s<\/a>\u00a0first term. The removal amounts to a public acknowledgement of just how vulnerable the District of Columbia is now that Trump is back in the White House and Republicans control both houses of Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Black Lives Matter Trump\u00a9\u00a0Jacquelyn Martin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bowser, a Democrat,\u00a0ordered the painting<\/a>\u00a0and renamed the intersection Black Lives Matter Plaza in June 2020. It came after days of chaotic protests at that location following the\u00a0murder of George Floyd<\/a>\u00a0by a Minneapolis police officer; Bowser had clashed with Trump over her handling of the protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now Bowser has little power to fend off encroachments on D.C.’s limited autonomy. Bowser said last week on X that, \u201cThe mural inspired millions of people and helped our city through a painful period, but now we can\u2019t afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference. The devastating impacts of the federal job cuts must be our number one concern.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those who gathered to witness the work Monday was Megan Bailiff, CEO of Equus Striping, the pavement marking company that originally painted the letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bailiff called the dismantling of Black Lives Matter Plaza, \u201chistorically obscene\u201d and said its presence was, \u201cmore significant at this very moment than it ever has been in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The far right celebrated the shift online, with conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk visiting<\/a> the site to hail, \u201cthe end of this mass race hysteria in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Trump\u2019s second term, Bowser has worked to avoid conflict<\/a> and downplay any points of contention. She traveled to Mar-a-Lago in Florida to meet with Trump after the election and has publicly emphasized their points of agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Black Lives Matter Trump\u00a9\u00a0Jacquelyn Martin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trump recently revived a frequent campaign talking point about wanting a\u00a0federal \u201ctakeover\u201d<\/a>\u00a0of the nation\u2019s capital, describing Washington as being riddled with crime, graffiti and homeless encampments. Bowser has refused to comment on reports that the White House is preparing an executive order targeting Washington. She publicly said that the greatest threat to the so-called Home Rule autonomy was \u201csome of the people in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congressional Republicans have repeatedly threatened to interfere in city affairs in large and small ways. A measure currently before Congress, named the\u00a0BOWSER Act<\/a>, seeks to\u00a0completely revoke<\/a>\u00a0the Home Rule Act of 1973, which grants the capital city limited autonomy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Starlette Thomas remembers coming down almost daily to the intersection of 16th and H streets, to protest police brutality and systemic racial iniquities during the summer of 2020. On Monday, the 45-year old Bowie, Maryland resident returned to the site of those protests to mourn the end of Black Lives Matter Plaza. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":10116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1977,3173,3174],"class_list":["post-10115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa","tag-black","tag-lives","tag-matter"],"yoast_head":"\n'More than brick and mortar:' DC begins removing 'Black Lives Matter' plaza near the White House - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10115\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'More than brick and mortar:' DC begins removing 'Black Lives Matter' plaza near the White House - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Starlette Thomas remembers coming down almost daily to the intersection of 16th and H streets, to protest police brutality and systemic racial iniquities during the summer of 2020. 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