Black Lives Matter Plaza


Black Lives Matter Plaza is a two-block-long section of 16th Street NW in Downtown Washington, D.C. The plaza was renamed by Mayor Muriel Bowser on June 5, 2020, after the Department of Public Works painted the words "Black Lives Matter" in yellow capital letters, along with the flag of Washington, D.C., as part of the George Floyd protests. Black Lives Matter DC activists, on the evening of June 6, 2020, removed the three stars from the D.C. flag and added "Defund the Police" in capital letters to the end of the mural. In the following weeks, dozens of similar street murals were painted across the United States.

Naming

On June 5, 2020, during the George Floyd protests, the DC Public Works Department painted the words "Black Lives Matter" in yellow capital letters on 16th Street NW on the north of Lafayette Square, part of President's Park near the White House, with the assistance of the MuralsDC program of the DC Department of Public Works, with the DC flag accompanying the text. On the same date, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, Muriel Bowser announced that part of the street outside of the White House had been officially renamed to Black Lives Matter Plaza posted with a street sign. When announcing the renaming, she said, "Breonna Taylor, on your birthday, let us stand with determination." In a press conference, she explained, "There are people who are craving to be heard and to be seen and to have their humanity recognized. We had the opportunity to send that message loud and clear on a very important street in our city."
The naming of the street has been seen by many as not only a reaction to the protests but part of it.
Mayor Bowser's decision to rename the segment of 16th Street NW as a public gathering place, or plaza, followed DC precedent for the commemorative renaming of city streets, under the Code of the District of Columbia.

Location

The plaza is a two-block-long section of 16th Street NW, south of K St NW, extending through I St, and north of H Street NW on the north side of President's Park on the south side of the Downtown neighbourhood in Northwest D.C.. All north–south streets in the NW section end with odd-numbers.

Reaction

Park police

The White House is a closed compound within President's Park. The United States Park Police reacted to the public gatherers by erecting a temporary seven-foot chain-link security barrier on the north boundary of the park, which was used to post messages by the protesters.

Community response

The group Black Lives Matter DC criticized the renaming by calling the acts a "performative distraction from real policy changes." On June 6, BLM protesters painted "Defund the Police" in the same yellow block letters that the city had painted "Black Lives Matter." Protesters also painted black the 3 stars on top of the DC City Crest so that from the air the lettering on the street reads "BLACK LIVES MATTER = DEFUND THE POLICE." The stars on the DC crest were subsequently re-added.

Legal challenge

A group of religious organizations, including Warriors for Christ and Special Forces of Liberty, filed a federal lawsuit on June 12, 2020 against Bowser over the renaming of the plaza. The suit contends that Black Lives Matter is a "cult for secular humanism" and a religious organization, and thus Bowser's action of renaming the plaza an endorsement of a religion violating the separation of church and state. The suit calls for the mural to be removed and the plaza to be renamed to a more secular name, as well as, while the city remains in violation of the First Amendment, display of different banners giving equal time for other groups.

Derivative street murals and renaming of public spaces

A number of street murals have been painted across the United States following the example in Washington, D.C., and there are proposals to rename some streets as well.

Alabama

Similar street murals have also been painted outside the United States: