Mayor of D.C. has city workers painting 'Black Lives Matter' on street to White House
Washington, D.C. has taken some very visible action to support the Black Lives Matter protests around the country.
On Friday morning, a group of people were seen painting the words "Black Lives Matter" in large yellow letters down two blocks of 16th Street, a two-lane road which leads to the White House.
The painters were commissioned by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, per CNN, and when New York Times writer Emily Badger happened upon the city workers on Friday morning, they casually said they were "just paintin' the streets."
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Badger noted that the 16 eye-catching letters, which span the full width of the street, will "be a real middle finger to any federal forces flying overhead."
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
If you're curious as to what the statement looks like from above, check out this video that Mayor Bowser shared on Twitter alongside the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. The video was taken from a roof and music can be heard playing in the background.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Badger also added that the yellow paint is not temporary by any means — it appears to be the same paint city officials use to stripe road lanes.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
The lettering comes as protests continue to spread throughout the city and hundreds of people gather each day outside the White House gates to condemn racism, police brutality, and the death of George Floyd — a black man who died on May 25, after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly 9 minutes.
After protests outside the White House escalated last Friday night, the Secret Service reportedly ushered Trump — along with Melania and their son Barron — to the underground presidential bunker, where they were said to have remained for nearly an hour.
On Friday morning, Mayor Bowser shared additional tweets that related to the Black Lives Matter paint. The first was a letter she wrote requesting that President Trump "withdraw all extraordinary federal law enforcement and military presence" from the city.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
And the second was a video that showed a "Black Lives Matter" street sign being added to a lamp post in the city. "The section of 16th street in front of the White House is now officially 'Black Lives Matter Plaza,'" Bowser wrote in her tweet.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Mashable has reached out to the D.C. Mayor's office for comment and will update this article if we receive a reply.
UPDATE: June 5, 2020, 10:55 a.m. EDT Updated to include a tweet from D.C. mayor, Muriel Bowser.
UPDATE: June 5, 2020, 12:13 p.m. EDT Updated to include two additional tweets from Mayor Bowser.
Related Video: How to donate to support the Black Lives Matter movement
Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.
