Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has been critical of President Donald Trump and his militaristic response to protests around the nation, has symbolically renamed the section of 16th street in front of the White House.
The section of street will now be known as ‘Black Lives Matter Plaza‘.
Earlier this week, Bowser wrote to Trump, asking him to “withdraw all extraordinary federal law enforcement and military presence from our city”, saying that “war-like” tactics are being used to frighten and disperse peaceful protesters.
Starting at 4am on Friday, city workers painted the words Black Lives Matter onto the asphalt, and hung a sign on the intersection of 16th and H streets, the site of the church where Trump stood for a photo op after protesters were tear-gassed and beaten back.
Muriel Bowser also Tweeted out footage of the street with a dedication to Breonna Taylor on her birthday. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, was fatally shot by Louisville police officers who entered her apartment in March of this year.
Breonna Taylor, on your birthday, let us stand with determination.
Determination to make America the land it ought to be. pic.twitter.com/XOfu6CGEGY
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) June 5, 2020
“Black lives and black humanity matter in our nation,” said Bowser, who also shared a quote from Dr Martin Luther King Jr, reading:
“… I’m happy to live in this period is that we have been forced to a point where we’re going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demand didn’t force them to do it.”
