D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser responded to a group of Republican lawmakers who wrote a letter calling for her to immediately rename Black Lives Matter Plaza, “due to that movement’s celebration of violent antisemitic terrorism.”
Representatives from both chambers of Congress signed the letter sent to Bowser on Monday, which referenced the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and said “the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement expressed support for the murderers.”
“For instance, the Chicago BLM Chapter posted an image of a Palestinian terrorist paragliding into Israel to kill Jews with the caption, ‘I stand with Palestine,'” the letter reads. “Further, the D.C. chapter of BLM posted that Israel is guilty of ‘apartheid,’ while sharing posts that cast doubt on the atrocities that took place on Oct. 7, including the beheading of babies.”
On Wednesday, Bowser said she had not responded to the request itself, but she would guess those same senators never wanted 16th Street to be renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza.
“And they should know that is a public art piece. Artists rendered it, artists painted it, and Jews and gentiles were there to support it,” Bowser said. “And it’s not linked to any particular group or person — but it is an expression of I think what our city felt and continues to feel.”
The two-block area in front of the White House was given the name Black Lives Matter Plaza three years ago during a wave of racial justice protests.
Bowser said the city plans to install signs explaining why the mural is there.
“So there will be an actual experience that explains the public art installation and the protests,” she said.
