By Phil Pasquini
Emboldened by Donald Trump’s war on words and “woke” phrases, Congressman Andrew Clyde (R-GA) a member of the House – Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on March 3 introduced bill H.R. 1744 to eliminate Black Lives Matter Plaza (BLM).
The racist overtones in erasing this important symbolic part of DC and American history are not lost on anyone.
The purported purpose of the congressman’s bill is “To amend title 23, United States Code, to withhold certain apportionment funds from the District of Columbia unless the Mayor of the District of Columbia removes the phrase Black Lives Matter from the street, symbolically designated as Black Lives Matter Plaza, redesignates such street as Liberty Plaza, and removes such phrase from each website, document, and other material under the jurisdiction of the District of Columbia.” It is a wonder, too, why the good congressman did not demand that his bill be numbered 1776 to maintain his patriotic theme.
Rep. Clyde, a gun store owner, fired the first shot to erase the five-year-old two-block plaza that was designated BLM Plaza in 2020. The plaza was created in reaction to the killing of George Floyd by police in whose wake civil unrest and protests broke out across the country calling for racial justice.
Feeling the pressure if the proposed bill were to be passed, rather than remain intransient, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has ordered the removal of all BLM Plaza vestiges in paving the way for the creation of the new proposed “Liberty Plaza.” That demolition work began on March 10 and is proceeding at a rapid pace.
Bowser downplayed her decision earlier this week in recognizing the change as an “evolution” and said that “We can’t afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference. The devastating impacts of the federal job cuts must be our number one concern. Our focus should be on economic, public safety and supporting our residents affected by these cuts.” Case closed.
Since its inception from an early simply painted tribute, it has gone through at least three iterations as traffic slowly wore down the original painted letters and the street was reopened to traffic. Its final design in 2021 that was promoted as a “permanent installation,” the plaza underwent an extensive and professionally designed remodel with the installation of an expensive cobblestone and cement paved street bed, new yellow heat applied lettering and the delineation of two traffic lanes separated by a pedestrian zone contained within modern illuminated bollards.
In its first iteration, citizen volunteers painted BLACK LIVES MATTER in bold yellow lettering across the black asphalt pavement from curb to curb on the street closed to traffic. During it existence it has gone from a symbol of racial justice, activism and resistance in America to an outliner offensive to Trump and the MAGA crowd in need of immediate removal.
Soon after it was created, the plaza became a part of a growing tourist attraction and downtown community space that saw the former busy street facing the White House used for numerous community activities and events.
The transformation now to a new and unknown design for a “Liberty Plaza” with the associated costs of demolishing BLM, and reconstruction, should be the stuff of DOGE nightmares. For a “cost conscious” entity flippant in firing hard working civil servants at a frantic pace tasked by Trump and Musk with removing government waste and excess, one has to wonder how they justify the millions of dollars spent on flying Trump to Florida every weekend to play golf.
Added to this is the extensive list of forbidden words and phrases just published in the New York Times that must be purged from all government documents, and how DOGE justifies the diversion of resources and salaries to pay for highly trained cartographic staff to change the names Gulf of Mexico and Denali on maps and all government documents and publications.
It makes no sense, but as of January 20th, America has made little sense to anyone paying attention…
Report and photos by Phil Pasquini
13 March 2025
Source: countercurrents.org