Construction workers started to dismantle the Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House on Monday following threats by Republicans to cut transportation funding if the plaza was not renamed.
“You can dig up concrete but you cannot erase history,” said DC resident Dianne Bradley.
Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser changed the name of the plaza in 2020 to Black Lives Matter Plaza, as a rebuke to President Trump, who had deployed thousands of federal troops to the city to counter people protesting against the murder of George Floyd by a police officer.
The renaming was criticised by the local chapter of the Black Lives Matter Global Network, which called it “a performative distraction from real policy changes”.
The dismantling of Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House follows political pressures, particularly from Republicans, who threatened to cut transportation funding unless the plaza was renamed. The plaza had originally been renamed in 2020 by DC Mayor Muriel Bowser as a gesture in response to the protests against the killing of George Floyd. The action, meant as a rebuke to former President Trump’s militarized response to the protests, had significant symbolic weight, but was met with criticism from some factions, including the local chapter of Black Lives Matter Global Network, which argued that the renaming was a superficial act that did not address deeper issues of systemic racism. Dianne Bradley, a DC resident, voiced her frustration, emphasizing that while physical changes may be made, the history and significance of the movement cannot be erased.
