The iconic square Black Lives Matter Washington will disappear in a few days. Workers from the District of Columbia began work this Monday to remove the mural of the movement in favor of the rights of black people by thethreats from the Republican Party in Congress.
Located a few meters from the White House, the mural formed by large yellow letters painted on the ground with the name of the movement commemorated the murder in 2020 of the African American George Floyd at the hands of white police officers in Minneapolis, which triggered the largest racial riots in the United States in recent decades.
The decision to delete it comes after Republican legislators presented a law against this mural in which They directly threatened the mayor of the capital, Democrat Muriel Bowser, with withdraw federal funds for the District of Columbia, which includes the capital, if the name of the square was not changed.
Georgia state Congressman Andrew Clyde proposed this initiative in the House of Representatives, where the president’s party Donald Trump has the majority.
‘Blackmail’ to which the mayor has finally given in. In a statement published on the social network X, Bowser announced that The square will be part of a project that will commemorate the 250 years of the city, that will be fulfilled next year and will be reformed because, in his opinion, it makes no sense to have conflicts with Congress, when there are other issues that deserve more attention.
“This mural inspired millions of people and helped our city through a very painful period, but Now we cannot be distracted by meaningless interference from Congress” Bowser said. “The devastating impact of federal job cuts must be our first concern.”
A decision questioned by members of Black Lives Matter who accuse Bowser of not having done anything for black people.
The removal of this mural is just one more example of the Trump Administration’s attempts to remove from the capital everything that does not agree with.
A few weeks ago he ordered the removal of posters from the headquarters, also in Washington, of the United States Agency for International Development (Usaid), the largest government cooperation agency in the world, after it decided to dismantle it and fire its workers.