California city removes Black Lives Matter mural after request to add pro-Trump art
Officials in Redwood City, just south of San Francisco, had a Black Lives Matter street mural scrubbed away overnight despite giving the artist permission to paint the message.
Redwood City resident Dan Pease organized the efforts to install the temporary mural as part of a Fourth of July public art celebration after getting approval from the city, which also supplied the yellow poster board paint that would gradually wash away, according to KPIX, a local CBS affiliate.
But last Thursday, the city quietly removed the mural after receiving a request from the local real estate attorney Maria Rutenburg, who is white, to add a message of her own: Maga 2020, Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
“I saw a ‘Black Lives Matter’ sign appearing on Broadway Street on the asphalt and I figured that’s gonna be a new public space, open for discussion, and I wanted to get my message out, too.” Rutenburg told the station.
“I’m a Trump supporter and the slogan is important to me,” Rutenburg told the Washington Post, adding “My speech is just as important as BLM.”
The city never granted Rutenburg approval to install the Maga message. Instead, they determined no street mural would be allowed, saying in a statement that murals on public streets “could result in driver confusion and traffic accidents”.
Pease, who is also white, told KRON-TV that he understands the city’s position, but disagreed with framing Black Lives Matter as a political statement.
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“Black Lives Matter is not a political statement,” he told the station. “Black Lives Matter is a human rights issue. Black Lives Matter is a call; it’s a message, it’s a symbol.”
After Pease’s art was removed, an online petition to protest the removal of the mural gathered 1,000 signatures and residents flooded a community Facebook group with messages critical of Rutenburg.
In her own Facebook post, Rutenburg defended her actions, writing. “I’d like to make it clear now: this is not the outcome I wanted, nor one that I requested.”
“I made my request because I saw that the courthouse square was being used as a public forum, and, as a Redwood City resident, wanted to participate”, she added.
In the wake of George Floyd’s death and ensuing protests, many major American cities saw the installation of Black Lives Matter street art, often written in large block letters on city streets.
But those installations continue to attract controversy, as vandals from New York to Portland have defaced the street art.
