I’m okay with them taking it away. I work here and live nearby, and the letters didn’t give me a good feeling. I can’t quite explain why, says a racist woman, who doesn’t want her name and picture in the paper [VG], and who doesn’t want to elaborate further.
The removal process is estimated to take six to eight weeks and cost around $610,000.
The story behind the removal of the Black Lives Matter mural in Washington, D.C., is rooted in a combination of political pressure, shifting priorities, and the city’s vulnerability to federal oversight. The mural, a large yellow painting of the words “Black Lives Matter” spanning two blocks of 16th Street NW near the White House, was originally created in June 2020. It was commissioned by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser during the nationwide protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The mural, along with the renaming of the area as Black Lives Matter Plaza, served as both a symbol of solidarity with the racial justice movement and a defiant statement against then-President Donald Trump, who had clashed with Bowser over the use of federal forces to clear peaceful protesters from nearby Lafayette Square.
Ultimately, the removal highlights D.C.’s delicate position as a city without full self-governance, subject to federal whims, and reflects a shift from the defiant optimism of 2020 to the practical concessions of 2025.
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