New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning to install a large Black Lives Matter mural outside of Trump Tower.
The mural will contain yellow block letters along Fifth Avenue between 56th and 57th streets in front of Trump Tower, according to the New York Post.
“Obviously he is doing it to antagonize the president,” a source said about the move. “This is what he is concerned about while the city burns. What an amateur politician.”
President Trump and de Blasio have long had a contentious relationship, which escalated during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic with the two leaders hurling insults at each other several times.
Criticism of the move immediately began trickling in on social media.
“There’s no evidence that Black lives actually do matter to Mayor De Blasio,” former Rep. Nan Hayworth tweeted. “He’s made schools, housing, and the economy worse. Black lives are being lost in despair and violence. A mural changes nothing.”
There’s no evidence that Black lives actually do matter to Mayor De Blasio. He’s made schools, housing, and the economy worse. Black lives are being lost in despair and violence.
A mural changes nothing.
De Blasio plans BLM mural in front of Trump Tower https://t.co/zQm3eI18OV
— Nan Hayworth, M.D. (@NanHayworth) June 24, 2020
The move to install the mural comes as New York City is experiencing a surge in shootings following protests, looting, and rioting over the past few weeks.
Some feel that the increase in crime is related to the decision to disband the New York Police Department’s plainclothes anti-crime unit following de Blasio’s call for police reform and his suggestion that police funding will be cut.
“Anti-Crime’s mission was to protect New Yorkers by proactively preventing crime, especially gun violence,” Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said about disbanding the unit. “Shooting and murders are both climbing steadily upward, but our city leaders have decided that proactive policing isn’t a priority anymore. They chose this strategy. They will have to reckon with the consequences.”
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser made a similar move to de Blasio’s planned mural that many believe was aimed at irking the president. She installed a Black Lives Matter mural and renamed a street “Black Lives Matter Plaza” two blocks from the White House, paid for by taxpayers.
Bowser was later sued over the mural by a group arguing she violated the First Amendment by supporting a specific orthodoxy over another.
