New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning to install a massive “Black Lives Matter” mural right outside Trump Tower in Manhattan. A de Blasio spokeswoman confirmed that the mayor is planning the mural with one particular resident in mind.
“Obviously he is doing it to antagonize the president,” a source told The New York Post, which broke the story. “This is what he is concerned about while the city burns. What an amateur politician.”
According to the Post, the mural will be painted in yellow block letters along Fifth Avenue between 56th and 57th streets, in a manner similar to Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s “Black Lives Matter” graffiti across from the White House.
The Post‘s anonymous source said the mayor’s office reached out to the Department of Transportation about the mural’s feasibility and mentioned that de Blasio himself wanted it set up.
The idea reportedly struck Hizzoner a few days after Bowser had D.C. employees paint “Black Lives Matter” on the street, a second source told the Post.
The mural will appear across from Trump Tower before the July 4 weekend. Six other installations will pop up across the five boroughs of New York City.
As the Post reported, the “Black Lives Matter” mural comes as the Big Apple has faced an unprecedented amount of shootings this month, including 53 shootings between June 15 and June 21. Riots in the wake of the horrific police killing of George Floyd have caused serious damage across New York. Thousands of protesters have also gathered, without de Blasio taking action to enforce coronavirus bans on such gatherings. Meanwhile, the NYPD booted Jewish mothers and their children from a park.
As the Big Apple faced lawlessness and destruction, de Blasio blamed Trump for the unrest.
As if de Blasio’s actions in setting up the “Black Lives Matter” mural across from Trump Tower were not enough to reveal his motives, his spokeswoman confirmed that the Post‘s anonymous sources suggested.
“The President is a disgrace to the values we cherish in New York City,” Julia Arredondo, the spokeswoman, told the Post. “He can’t run or deny the reality we are facing, and any time he wants to set foot in the place he claims is his hometown, he should be reminded Black Lives Matter.”
Of course, President Donald Trump knows that black lives matter. Not only has Trump worked with the presidents of 100-plus Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and signed the First Step Act on criminal justice reform, but he has elevated black and brown Americans to high positions in government: naming Ben Carson to HUD; naming Ajit Pai chairman of the FCC; hiring Omarosa Manigault Newman in the White House (who said Trump wasn’t racist before she accused him of being racist); and many more.
After the horrific death of George Floyd, Trump requested a federal investigation into that instance of police abuse, said his “heart goes out to George’s family and friends,” and promised that “Justice will be served!”
….I have asked for this investigation to be expedited and greatly appreciate all of the work done by local law enforcement. My heart goes out to George’s family and friends. Justice will be served!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2020
Yet Democrats like Muriel Bowser and Bill de Blasio intend to harass Trump by championing the radical Black Lives Matter movement and endorsing a political opposition to the president on public property right in front of his nose.
This is petty in the extreme, but sadly par for the course in the days of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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