DC mayor has ‘Black Lives Matter’ painted on street leading to White House

Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser on Friday had “Black Lives Matter” painted in large yellow letters on the street that leads to the White House, and also designated the square in front of Lafayette Park as Black Lives Matter Plaza.

“There was a dispute this week about whose street this is,” John Falcicchio, Bowser’s chief of staff, wrote in a tweet.

“Mayor Bowser wanted to make it abundantly clear that this is DC’s street and to honor demonstrators who [were] peacefully protesting on Monday evening,” he added, referring to protesters demonstrating over the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota cops.

Bowser, a Democrat who assumed office in January 2015 and has clashed with President Trump over the feds’ aggressive response to the protests, also tweeted out a video of the street shot from above.

City staffers and local artists painted the large block letters on 16th Street NW, and the work takes up two blocks on 16th — which leads to both Lafayette Square and the White House — between K and H streets.

Local artist Rose Jaffe said she and others joined city work crews about 4 a.m., the Washington Post reported.

Later, a city worker hung a “Black Lives Matter Plz NW” sign at the corner of 16th and H streets NW.

Bowser, who is African American, watched silently as onlookers cheered and the song “Rise Up” by Audra Day played.

“In America, you can peacefully assemble,” she told the crowd, the paper reported.

Bowser later tweeted: “The section of 16th street in front of the White House is now officially ‘Black Lives Matter Plaza.’”

But the move did not impress DC’s Black Lives Matter chapter.

“This is a performative distraction from real policy changes. Bowser has consistently been on the wrong side of BLMDC history. This is to appease white liberals while ignoring our demands. Black Lives Matter means defund the police,” the group tweeted.

DC’s shadow Sen. Paul Strauss said Bowser had the authority to unilaterally order the moves, referring to Monday’s crackdown as the capital’s “Tiananmen Square.”

“Thirty-one years ago troops in Beijing went into Tiananmen Square and squashed a peaceful protest. And here in 2020 troops came and quashed a peaceful protest right here and Black Lives Matter Plaza will go down in our history as our Tiananmen Square,” said Strauss, a Democrat.

“There’s more authority for a mayor elected by our people to rename a Washington, DC, street than there is to force us to quarter soldiers in violation of the 3rd Amendment to the Constitution,” he continued.

The amendment reads: “No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.”

“So, anybody can say whatever they want about due process, a democratically elected mayor, exercising the people’s First Amendment rights to rename their own street is far more legitimate than anonymous troops coming in from out of town to dominate their fellow Americans,” Strauss said.

The moves came days after the Park Police and National Guard troops removed demonstrators who were protesting outside the White House.

The crowd was dispersed so Trump could walk from the White House to St. John’s Episcopal Church, which had been damaged by a fire the night before.

While Bowser and Trump clashed over the use of force, the president renewed his call for more forceful action against protesters Friday, citing the crackdown in Minnesota as an example.

“I hope that you also use our National Guard. Call me, we will be ready with them so fast their heads will spin. We did it in Minneapolis, in Minnesota, they were ripping that place apart,” he said while delivering remarks on the positive May jobs report.

“I love it, we had such success there, and they were ripping it apart. I called the governor and the National Guard went in and in one night it was over. You do not see the problem in Minnesota at all now, not even a little bit,” he said.

Bowser earlier Friday had demanded on Twitter that Trump “withdraw all extraordinary federal law enforcement and military presence from our city.”