Workers began on Monday, March 10, in Washington to erase a fresco in the colors of the anti -racist protest movement Black Lives Matter (“black lives count”), which was in the viewfinder of the Republicans.
The movement of denunciation of racism and police violence Black Lives Matter broke out, in 2020, following the death of George Floyd, an African-American killed by a white police officer from Minneapolis.
The Democrat mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, had ordered the fresco and renamed the Black Lives Matter Plaza intersection in June 2020, after days of demonstrations against police violence in this place.
But the fresco had been in the sights of the Republicans since the return to the presidency of Donald Trump, already in office when the movement was created.
“Other cats to whip”
“It’s historic and now they say, basically, that it did not happen”regretted, on Monday, with the agency France-Presse an African-American, who came to see for the last time the inscription in yellow letters Black Lives Matter on bitumen, in a street located not far from the White House, while hammers attacked the Chaussée.
Last week, mayor Muriel Bowser said, on the social network X, to have “Other cats to whip than to fight for what has been very important to us and for history”. “Today, we focus on guaranteeing the survival of our inhabitants and our economy”had added the councilor, who fears that the massive layoffs of federal officials decided by the President of the United States and by his ally Elon Musk harm the city finances.
Asked to find out if the withdrawal of the fresco had been decided under pressure from the White House, Muriel Bowser had refused to enter the ” details “. “But I think we can say without taking any risks that people do not like it, did not like it. »»