Mayor Bill de Blasio Helps Paint BLM Mural in NYC Despite Trumps Hateful Rhetoric
Mayor De Blasio and a group of volunteers work together to paint a Black Lives Matter mural in front of Trump Tower.
City work crews blocked off traffic between 56th and 57th streets on Fifth Avenue Thursday morning for the painting of the giant Black Lives Matter mural outside Trump Tower.
New York City was determined to complete the mural despite earlier pushback from the president, who described it as a “symbol of hate.” Trump criticized the city’s “expensive” funding of this project by calling out its decision to cut the New York Police Department’s budget by one billion dollars.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio privately authorized the project last month, with a mayoral spokesperson calling the president “a disgrace to the values we cherish in New York City,” and outlining the intent that: “Anytime he wants to set foot in the place he claims is his hometown, he should be reminded that Black lives matter.”
A “Black Lives Matter” mural was painted in front of Trump Tower in New York City on Thursday. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Rev. Al Sharpton helped paint the bold, yellow letters across 5th Ave. https://t.co/PSdS0CPK6V pic.twitter.com/ZkILZbXATI
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 9, 2020
This mural marks the Manhattan portion of a city project to paint BLM murals in all five boroughs, which have so far been completed in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and St. George, Staten Island.
But New York City is not the only place with murals dedicated to supporting the Black community. BLM murals have been popping up in cities across the U.S. as a show of support for ongoing anti-racism protests.
We are so glad to see the Black Lives Matter movement carrying on and hope it continues to gain momentum until the change that is needed is enacted.
