WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Mayor Muriel Bowser said the Black Lives Matter Plaza and mural will be renamed and redesigned.
This comes as Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) introduced new legislation that would withhold federal funding until D.C. removed the mural.
In a statement, Bowser said the mural is inspirational.
“We have long considered Black Lives Matter Plaza’s evolution, and the plaza will be part of DC’s America 250 mural project, where we will invite students and artists to create new murals across all eight wards. The mural inspired millions of people and helped our city through a very painful period, but now we can’t afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference. The devasting impacts of the federal job cuts must be our number one concern. our focus is on economic growth, public safety, and supporting our residents affected by these cuts,” the statement read.
The decision is receiving pushback from some local advocates.
“I’m really disappointed in the mayor’s stance to do that; this is such an important space,” said Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters.
The organization held a rally on the plaza Tuesday as President Donald Trump gave a speech to a joint session of Congress.
“It is important for us to be here tonight, saying and what we’re saying, doing what we’re doing because these are the very people who are under attack,” said Stewart, speaking about who the mural represents. “Black lives matter, trans lives matter, young peoples’ lives matter, all people’s lives matter as we fight to keep and preserve our democracy.”
The rally was also a sign of resistance to the changes the Trump administration has made, including cuts to federal funding, the slashing of the federal workforce and the roll back of rights for trans people.
“We have seen other movements here where the government has tried to do very similar things to this. And the only thing that stopped it was people coming together as a collective in solidarity to overturn and stop what happened,” Steward said. “So we really hope this starts that arch of escalation.”
