DC Mayor suggests city will paint over Black Lives Matter Plaza near White House

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) issued a Tuesday statement suggesting the city may paint over the Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House.

“The mural inspired millions of people and helped our city through a very painful period, but now we can't afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference,” Bowser wrote in a post on the social platform X.

“The devastating impacts of the federal job cuts must be our number one concern. Our focus is on economic growth, public safety, and supporting our residents affected by these cuts,” she added.

Her words come a day after Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde (R) introduced a new measure seeking to withhold funds from D.C. if the plaza is not renamed “Liberty Plaza.”

The bill, which is set to undergo review from the House committees on Agriculture and Infrastructure, urges officials to remove the Black Lives Matter phrase from “each website, document, and other material under the jurisdiction of the District of Columbia.”

Republican legislators have been encouraged to eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts from all facets of government since the start of President Trump’s second administration.

Despite Bowser’s meeting with the president in December prior to the start of his second tenure in the Oval Office, Republicans have introduced legislation to overturn the Democrats' and D.C.’s Home Rule law.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) introduced the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident (BOWSER) Act, an acronym for Bowser, in early February in an effort to repeal D.C.'s autonomous style of government, citing crime rates and corruption.

If passed, the measure would repeal D.C.‘s local legislative functions within a year. 

Lee originally sought to pass the bill last year, but it failed in committee. 

City leaders have fought for decades to obtain formal statehood to secure voting representation in Congress.

”This year, we look back with gratitude for those who came before us and fought for Home Rule, and we keep pushing for a future where we have full access to American democracy. We know that full access means D.C. statehood. It means we have voting representation in the House and two senators representing us in the Senate,” Bowser said in 2023.

“It means a more perfect democracy for our country — one where Americans living in the shadow of the Capitol, who have all the responsibilities of citizenship and who go to war to defend our freedoms, have representation in Congress. Our future is one where our Home Rule is not limited — where D.C. residents have full representation, full autonomy, and full access to our fundamental rights as American citizens,” she added.

Bowser has not publicly commented on the BOWSER Act. The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.