On Monday, construction crews began dismantling the Black Lives Matter (BLM) mural in Washington, D.C., just down the street from President Donald Trump‘s official residence.
The large, yellow mural, which was part of a larger plaza, was painted by the city following nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by Minneapolis police, in 2020.
Plans to remove the mural were announced by Washington, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser after Republican lawmakers threatened to cut millions in transportation funding. Bowser was responsible for the painting of the mural.
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While it was a intended as a good faith gesture of unity following the protests, not all who are left-leaning were supportive. The D.C. chapter of Black Lives Matter, for example, called the mural “a performative distraction from real policy changes” in a 2020 post on X, formerly Twitter.
“We have ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies all across the entire federal government and, indeed, the private sector and our military,” Trump said during his joint address to Congress last week. “And our country will be woke no longer.”
This kind of statement from Trump doesn’t come as much of a shock, however, amid cuts to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Despite the removal of this visual representation of BLM, which is expected to take approximately six weeks, some continue to find hope.
“There was a movement, and there’s still going to be a movement,” former D.C. resident Karen Long told USA Today. “This is not the end of it. This is just somebody saying, ‘Hey, I don’t like that symbol being there’ because they feel some kind of way about it, so let them have it.”
In its place, there will be a citywide mural project for the anniversary of the country’s 250th founding slated for next year.