Pro-Trump women's group seeks to paint message on NYC streets, citing Black Lives Matter murals
NEW YORK — Mayor Bill de Blasio can’t allow “Black Lives Matter” to be painted on the street and then reject the message, “Engaging, Inspiring and Empowering Women to Make a Difference!” a new lawsuit argues.
A Virginia-based group called “Women for America First” says the city wrongly rejected its request to paint the “empowering” message on the street outside Gracie Mansion or in Times Square, citing the “Black Lives Matter” painted in yellow by Trump Tower.
The small, pro-Trump group sued late Thursday in Manhattan Federal Court, arguing the city violated its First Amendment rights by picking and choosing which messages to allow on the street.
“De Blasio’s conduct as alleged herein is intended as a political gesture to the BLM movement and those sympathetic to it which has been done in order to enhance his future prospects as a Democratic candidate for office or appointee and by rallying BLM support for Democrats, including in the 2020 Presidential election,” Ronald Coleman, an attorney for Women for America First, wrote in the suit.
The city violated the First Amendment by “favoring the viewpoint of the political message painted on Fifth Avenue and other New York City streets over the message plaintiff has requested to paint,” the suit claims.
De Blasio said Thursday that Black Lives Matter was not “a political message in the traditional sense.”
“I think it’s a message about human respect and the value of human beings and addressing the fact that one group amongst us in particular has been devalued for centuries. And that can’t go on. I think it transcends any notion of politics,” he said.
The location of the words outside Trump Tower raise obvious questions about the political neutrality of the message.
Women for America First appears to be a relatively small organization. It has 3,600 followers on Twitter and has tweeted fewer than 1,000 times. Its website features a photo of the White House, a request for donations, merchandise and little other information.
“There are millions of women who support the America First Agenda and we’re not standing in the shadows anymore! We won’t be pushed around by bullies who tell us who we are ‘supposed’ to like. And we’re not going to keep quiet just because the Washington, D.C., power elites and mainstream media want us to!” the site reads.
The city Law Department said it would review the suit.
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