Black Lives Matter Murals Are Being Defaced In Cities Throughout The Country – Forbes

TOPLINE

A Black Lives Matter mural outside of Chicago was painted over to read "All Lives Matter" earlier this week, the latest occurrence of what has become a nationwide trend in recent weeks of vandals defacing similar BLM murals, as the U.S. painfully comes to terms with an evolving public dialogue centered around racism following the death of George Floyd.

NEW YORK, USA - JUNE 15: An aerial view of 'Black Lives Matter' mural painting is seen on Fulton ... [+] Street in Brooklyn, New York City, United States on June 15, 2020. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A portion of a street mural, which had been completed just two weeks ago in Oak Park (an Illinois neighborhood north of Chicago), was vandalized overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.

Overnight Monday into Tuesday, in Martinez, California, local police opened an investigation after "White Lives Matter" was illegally painted onto a roadway.

Just three days earlier in Martinez, a couple (who would later be charged with a hate crime) was filmed vandalizing a city-approved Black Lives Matter mural, located outside a courthouse.

On Monday, state police in Vermont informed the Attorney General's Office that two Black Lives Matter roadway murals and a "Black Trans Lives Matter" mural were defaced.

Last month in Baltimore, chalk messages written by elementary students on their school's walls in support of the Black Lives Matter movement were power-washed away by adults.

Tire marks were left across a Black Lives Matter mural in uptown Charlotte in early June.

Black Lives Matter originated in 2013, but according to recent polling data, there has been a significant shift in how American citizens view the movement. A Pew Research survey last month found that roughly 67% of U.S. adults support the BLM movement, with 38% saying they strongly support it. In early June, a Monmouth University poll found that 76% of Americans now consider racism and discrimination a "big problem," whereas only half the country agreed with that sentiment as recently as five years ago. According to data analyzed by the New York Times, "about 15 million to 26 million people in the United States participated in demonstrations over the death of George Floyd and others in recent weeks. These figures would make the recent protests the largest movement in the country's history."

Last week, President Trump inflamed tensions on both sides of the debate when he declared that a "Black Lives Matter" mural painted on a New York City street would be "a symbol of hate." In a series of tweets, Trump added that painting a "big, expensive, yellow Black Lives Matter sign on Fifth Avenue" (which, coincidentally, is home to his flagship building, Trump Tower) would denigrate the street. Nonetheless, the mural was completed Thursday afternoon.

"The president is a disgrace to the values we cherish in New York City," Julia Arredondo, a spokeswoman for NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio, said earlier this month. "He can't run or deny the reality we are facing, and anytime he wants to set foot in the place he claims is his hometown, he should be reminded that Black lives matter."

Trump Calls Planned Black Lives Matter Sign By Trump Tower A Symbol Of Hate (Fobes)

Vandals alter Black Lives Matter mural outside of Chicago to say 'All Lives Matter' (Fox News)

BLM MuralDecried By President As A Symbol Of HateGoes Up Outside Trump Tower (Forbes)