Black Lives Matter Plaza Northwest | |
Namesake | Black Lives Matter |
---|---|
Maintained by | DDOT |
Location | Downtown Washington, D.C. |
Postal code | 20006 |
Nearest metro station | McPherson Square |
Coordinates | 38°54′3.506″N77°2′11.548″W / 38.90097389°N 77.03654111°W |
North end | US 29 (K Street, NW) |
South end | H Street, NW at Lafayette Square of President's Park |
Construction | |
Commissioned | June 5, 2020 |
Completion | October 28, 2021 |
Black Lives Matter Plaza (officially Black Lives Matter Plaza Northwest) is a two-block-long pedestrian section of 16th Street NW in downtown Washington, D.C. [1] [2] 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, 35-foot-tall (11 m) capital letters, along with the D.C. flag, during the series of George Floyd protests taking place in the city. [3] [4] [5]
On June 5, 2020, during the series of George Floyd protests, the D.C. Department of Public Works painted the words "Black Lives Matter" in 35-foot-tall (11 m) 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 Department of Public Works, with the D.C. flag accompanying the text. [6] [7] [8] On the same date, Mayor 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. [9] [10] [11] When announcing the renaming, she said, "Breonna Taylor, on your birthday, let us stand with determination." [12] 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." [13] In October 2020, the DC City Council voted to keep the name permanently. [14]
The naming of the street has been seen by many as not only a reaction to the protests but part of it. [15]
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, [16] under the Code of the District of Columbia . [17] [18]
In September 2020, according to WUSA9, the Federal Highway Administration, Mayor Bowser's office and area business were engaged in talks about removing the lettering and street sign, although no formal request had been made by the federal government. [19]
In Summer 2021, the yellow letters were temporarily painted over. [20] Mayor Muriel Bowser stated that "right now we're undergoing a process to make the installation more permanent, and with lighting and landscaping and all the things that you expect an iconic art installation ... to install this piece of art with a very affirming message that not only our residents needed to hear, but people around the world needed to hear." [21]
In October 2021, the street was reopened as a permanent installation featuring similar yellow lettering and a permanent concrete plaza. Unlike the original installation, which was closed to traffic, the permanent plaza includes one lane of traffic in each direction separated by a 14-foot (4.3 m) pedestrian island in the center. Total construction costs are estimated at $7.8 million. [22]
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 neighborhood in Northwest D.C. [23] [24] [25] [26] Vehicular entry to the temporary installation was blocked by barricades on the right-hand side of the street, though emergency vehicles had access on the left side. After the completion of the permanent installation in October 2021, vehicular entry has been restored.
The United States Park Police reacted to the public gatherers by erecting a temporary seven-foot-tall (2.1 m) chain-link security barrier on the north boundary of the park, which was used to post messages by the protesters. [27]
The group Black Lives Matter DC criticized the renaming by calling the acts a "performative distraction from real policy changes." On June 6, 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. [28] [29] [30]
A group of religious organizations, including the Warriors for Christ and the Special Forces of Liberty, filed a federal lawsuit on June 12, 2020, against Bowser in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia over the renaming of the plaza. [31] 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 the display of different banners giving equal time for other groups, which include All Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, and "Green Lives Matter" for National Guardsmen. [31]
The lawsuit was dismissed by Judge Trevor N. McFadden on August 21, 2020, without prejudice. [32] A refiled case was similarly dismissed on July 12, 2021, by Judge McFadden. [33]
The conservative activist group Judicial Watch also filed suit against Mayor Muriel Bowser and the District Department of Transportation in response to the installation of Black Lives Matter Plaza. Arguing that the painting of the Black Lives Matter message created a public forum for expression, Judicial Watch requested permission to paint its slogan "Because No One Is Above the Law!" in a similar size on a District street. After the District government did not respond to its inquiries, the group sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging a violation of its First Amendment rights. The case was dismissed on February 7, 2022, by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan. [34]
16th Street Northwest, briefly known as the Avenue of the Presidents, is a prominent north-south boulevard in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. The street was laid out as part of the 1791 L'Enfant Plan, which served as the original blueprint for the city. The street begins just north of the White House, across from Lafayette Square in the President's Park, and continues north along the Washington meridian until Blair Circle.
Downtown is the central business district of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. It is the third largest central business district in the United States. The "Traditional Downtown" has been defined as an area roughly between Union Station in the east and 16th Street NW in the west, and between the National Mall on the south and Massachusetts Avenue on the north, including Penn Quarter. However, nowadays, Downtown D.C. can often refer to a larger area, as the DC Office of Planning states:
…most residents, workers, and visitors think of Downtown in a broader sense — including areas as far north as Dupont Circle, as far west as Foggy Bottom, and as far east as Capitol Hill. Only about half of the central city workforce is located within the city’s traditional Downtown.
Muriel Elizabeth Bowser is an American politician who has served as the mayor of the District of Columbia since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented the 4th ward as a member of the Council of the District of Columbia from 2007 to 2015. She is the second female mayor of the District of Columbia after Sharon Pratt, and the first woman to be reelected to that position.
Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, experienced a series of protests and riots following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Some of the events involved violence, looting, and destruction.
Performative activism is activism done to increase one's social capital rather than because of one's devotion to a cause.
George Floyd protests in New York City took place at several sites in each of the five New York City boroughs, starting on May 28, 2020, in reaction to the murder of George Floyd. Most of the protests were peaceful, while some sites experienced protester and/or police violence, including several high-profile incidents of excessive force. Looting became a parallel issue, especially in Manhattan. As a result, and amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the city was placed under curfew from June 1–7, the first curfew in the city since 1943.
This is a list of protests in Rhode Island related to the murder of George Floyd.
The murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, triggered a wave of protests throughout Tennessee in late May and early June 2020. These protests continued throughout the year.
The Black Lives Matter movement has been depicted and documented in various artistic forms and mediums including film, song, television, and the visual arts. In some instances this has taken place in the form of protest art. These cultural representations have also grown organically among artists who seek to partake in activist efforts in support or in recognition of the Black Lives Matter movement. The themes conveyed in these artistic works address the history of racism and injustice toward people of color in the United States and typically express sentiments of anger and fear as well as solace and hope.
Many artworks related to the Black Lives Matter movement were created in Portland, Oregon, United States, during local protests over the murder of George Floyd and other Black Americans. Oregon Arts Watch contextualized the artistic works, stating that a "whitewashed pre-COVID lens" on American life, which obscured systemic racism, had been "cracked", and describing artists' response to racial violence being brought into the public eye was a "marathon, not a sprint".
Many artworks related to the Black Lives Matter movement have been created. These works are either seen as a direct tribute to those who have died or more broadly to the movement. Often the pieces are created in the streets as to be more publicly visible. As such several attempts have been made at preserving the art created in protest on the basis of their artistic merit and cultural significance. Increasingly, the erasure of the artwork has been a problem for preservationists. As such, the artworks below represent a fraction of the works created.
New York City has been the site of many Black Lives Matter protests in response to incidents of police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people. The Black Lives Matter movement began as a hashtag after the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin, and became nationally recognized for street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two African Americans, Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Garner was killed in the Staten Island borough of New York City, leading to protests, demonstrations, and work towards changes in policing and the law. Following the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020, the global response included extensive protests in New York City, and several subsequent changes to policy.
The Black Lives Matter street muralin Indianapolis is a large, colorful mural reading "#BLACKLIVESMATTER", with a raised fist, that 18 artists painted across a downtown roadway in August 2020, as part of the George Floyd protests. The mural is located on Indiana Avenue, the historic hub of the city's Black culture, on the same corner as the Madam C. J. Walker Building.
We Stand With You is a 2020 mural of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor by artist Christian Grijalva, installed in Portland, Oregon.
On June 18, 2020, Nick Lloyd painted the phrase "Black Lives Matter" in large bright yellow block letters on North Edison Street in Portland, Oregon's St. Johns neighborhood.
Many artworks related to the Black Lives Matter movement were created in New York City, during local protests over the murder of George Floyd and other Black Americans.
A "Black Lives Matter" street mural was painted in Capitol Hill, Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington in June 2020. Maintained by the Seattle Department of Transportation, the artwork has survived longer than many Black Lives Matter street murals across the United States.
The Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence was a two-block eight-month long protest art installation of Black Lives Matter memorials attached by visitors and community activists to the chain link fence outside the White House on H Street, between Vermont Avenue and Connecticut Avenue NW in Downtown Washington, D.C. in 2020 and 2021. The 1.7-mile (2.7 km) cordon of fencing around the White House was erected to move the growing crowds of protesters gathered at and around Lafayette Park after the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. The Memorial Fence developed from June 2020 until it was dismantled and archived in January 2021. Members of the public worked together to maintain, protect, and then archive the thousands of signs and artworks that were offered by the public.
George Floyd was an African American man who was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020. He was memorialized via events, protests, artwork installations, organizations, official designations, and campaigns.