Category Archives: Black Lives Matter

Police in Oregon are investigating after two deer heads were discovered next to a Joe Biden campaign sign and, separately, a Black Lives Matter sign.

The Lake Oswego Police Department received the first report of a severed deer head Thursday morning near the Biden-Harris sign, which was placed at an intersection, and later that day, another one was reported near the Black Lives Matter sign at someones home, police said in a news release.

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Sgt. Tom Hamann told the Oregonian that investigators are not yet jumping to conclusions about how the severed heads ended up near the signs but are actively probing the matter.

Were talking to neighbors, and were looking for video, Hamann said. Theres no note. Theres nothing written with it. We dont want to make assumptions. Were trying to look into it and determine who did it and why.

There are hunters in town, and it is deer hunting season, the officer added. They will often dispose of the deer heads after cleaning out the animals. Maybe someone disposed of it improperly and an animal got a hold of it.

Peggy Lant, who had one of the deer heads found near her home, said she was told by police about the incident and that she and her family felt like they had been really violated.

I felt like I had been physically attacked. I felt like my safety was gone. I felt like my dignity was gone and my children were in danger, Lant, who has two daughters, told the newspaper.

Police are asking anyone with information about the severed heads to contact them.

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Police investigate decapitated deer heads found near Biden and Black Lives Matter signs - Washington Examiner

A giant sculpture will soon rise in Roselawn at the corner of Reading and Section roads as part of a citywide art installment. The 10-foot R sculpture, created by Annie Ruth, is the first installation of 16 giant-letter sculptures and an exclamation point that will appear in various places around Cincinnati, eventually spelling Black Lives Matter!

In a celebration of community, strength and diversity in Cincinnati, the work is part of local artist collective Black Art Speaks sculptural series. A dedication ceremony will take place in Roselawn on Thursday, May 2 at 11 a.m. when the R will be unveiled.

The works are inspired by two of Black Art Speaks own creations, Cincinnatis Black Lives Matter muraland Alandes Powell's poem "We Want What You Want.

Each of the giant letter installations will resemble about 70%

Photo: provided by Alandes Powell

Painting of the "R" sculpture in progress.

Ruth is a founding member of Black Art Speaks, as well as an internationally known artist. She is the project manager for many of the collectives installations and projects. Powell tells CityBeat that she plays a huge role in the organization.

Because of all [Ruth] does for Roselawn, for this community,how talented she is and the fact that she created the first letter that stands up is amazing to me, Powell says. So she continues to not just explode in her craft, but just for her community, and how much she loves Roselawn, how much

Photo: provided by Alandes Powell

The "R" sculpture before it was painted.

The next two sculptures slated for installation are A and !. The A will appear in Avondale near the end of May or the beginning of June; it represents the issue of gun violence, Powell says. The exclamation point will be installed in June in the West End of Cincinnati.

How can we have deeper dialogue using art and actually continue this conversation removing the noise of Black Lives Matter, but still making sure the movement is important? How do we take some of that political piece out of it and make people really understand our hearts?" Powell says. "So in Roselawn, just taking the R, knowing that it's about the bias of Black men and how important it is for them to see the beauty in themselves and for other people to be so inclined to see it as well, is just one piece of Black Lives Matter. So the vision and the hope is that we can have these courageous conversations and dialogue using the beauty of art to change us and change how people see us. It's an internal peace and external.

For more information about Black Art Speaks and its programming visit blackartspeaks.com.

Photo: Hailey Bollinger

Cincinnati's Black Lives Matter mural being painted.

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Cincinnati Artist Collective Creates Sculptural Series that Spells Out Black Lives Matter - Cincinnati CityBeat

A federal judge tentatively allowed Sampson to proceed to trial over his excessive force and free speech claims.

LOS ANGELES (CN) A federal judge cleared actor and activist Kendrick Sampson to take the Los Angeles Police Department to trial over claims that officers used excessive force against him during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

At a hearing Monday U.S. District Judge John Kronstadt tentatively denied the LAPD's bid for summary judgment on Sampson's lawsuit accusing police officers of violating his Fourth Amendment right by using unreasonable force and his First Amendment right by retaliating against him for speaking out about police abuse.

The judge said there were enough factual disputes for those claims to be decided by a jury, such as whether or not the crowd at the demonstration was peaceful; whether Sampson and the other protesters were "kettled" between two police lines; and whether officers who ordered to protesters to disperse had instructed them clearly on where to go.

Kronstadt indicated however that he may throw out Sampson's claims that there was an LAPD conspiracy to deprive him of his constitutional rights and that the city's and police department's policies contributed to the purported violations of his rights. He said Sampson hasn't provided compelling evidence to support those.

"I'm not sure I understand," Kronstadt said to Sampson's lawyer Lawrence Middleton with respect to the argument that the police officers communications during the protest constituted a conspiracy. "Is following an order a conspiracy?"

Sampson, 36, who has starred in the TV series "The Vampire Diaries" and "How to Get Away with Murder" among others, organized and participated in Black Lives Matter protests in Los Angeles following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

During a May 30, 2020, demonstration in LA's Fairfax District, Sampson claimed he was beaten with police batons and shot at close range with non-lethal projectiles as he and other protesters were boxed in by police. He sued the LAPD and individual officers in 2022 claiming they violated his constitutional rights.

Whereas Lisa Lee, an attorney for the city, argued at Monday's hearing that police video of the demonstration provides undisputed evidence that Sampson was at the front of the protesters refusing orders to disperse, lunging at officers and trying to grab their batons, Middleton said the video shows two competing narratives.

According to Middleton, there was not, a police have claimed, a riotous crowd rather, it was just people standing around and talking and Sampson was filming the protest with his cellphone when he was attacked.

The police say protesters had surrounded a local transit bus with passengers on it, and a first group of LAPD officers dispatched to relieve the bus was itself surrounded by thousands of protesters. A second group of officers specialized in crowd control was subsequently sent to the area to help their colleagues and the bus passengers.

Officers repeatedly told the protesters to disperse, LAPD says, then declared an unlawful assembly because the crowd was "violent, boisterous or tumultuous." Sampson, they claim, refused instructions to leave until he had been hit by the officers he was confronting and nearby police cars were set on fire.

The judge didn't make a final decision on the city's motion for summary judgment at the hearing and said he would issue a written ruling. Judges typically are reluctant to decide lawsuits based on the so-called undisputed evidence unless it's so clear-cut that no reasonable jury could find otherwise.

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Activist actor Kendrick Sampson cleared for trial against LAPD over Black Lives Matter protest - Courthouse News Service

OPINION:

Last month, many government schools participated in Black Lives Matter at School Week.

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The annual Social Justice Week of Action began in 2016 in the state of Washington and grew over the years with support from the National Education Association (NEA). In 2019, The NEA promotion included an image of students appearing to grab and shred the American flag while another student holds up the BLM flag.

What an image! This is a true reflection of the indoctrination happening in government schools. Sadly, today, children are being taught to hate America and believe our country is systemically racist.

The starter kit for schools to participate in BLM at School Week can be downloaded for review. The updated kit touts four national demands for the week of action: 1. End zero tolerance and implement restorative justice, 2. hire and retain black teachers, 3. mandate Black history and ethnic studies, and 4. counselors, not cops.

So, lets get this straight.

BLM wants to end strict discipline in classrooms to be replaced by a theory that focuses on the victim and repairing any harm done, which has morphed into the payment of monetary reparations to victims of historical social injustice.

BLM wants to hire teachers based on their race rather than their skills and abilities. Discrimination in the name of diversity like this is rampant across our country. For example, in 2021 North Carolinas largest district encouraged teachers to ignore White parents concerns about critical race theory because their children benefit from the system. There is so much irony in how anti-racist programs are so heavily steeped in racism.

BLM wants to mandate Black History and Ethnic Studies like the African American Studies class focused on social justice being implemented in my hometown. The professor who guided the teachers in the development of this course said, Shifting [students] thinking often means disagreeing with their families, communities, and what they see as basic values in the United States.

Should this be the focus for teachers? To shift a childs worldview away from their family, community, and our countrys values?

BLM wants to defund police in schools and replace them with mental health counselors. Is this because children who commit crimes in school need counseling not discipline? If we continue to remove deterrents to crime and treat children who make bad choices as victims, we harm them and potentially others. Self-control is learned from suffering the consequences of bad choices.

Moreover, BLM has expanded beyond race and now includes in its Guiding Principles Transgender Affirming (the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege), and Queer Affirming (freeing from the tight grip of cis-heteropatriarchal assumptions) and they claim, collective value described as sex assigned at birth, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, economic status, ability, disability, education, location, age, immigration status, religious beliefs or disbeliefs.

Other BLM Guiding Principles are Black Women defined as actively disrupting patriarchal culture and Black Villages intended to disrupt the narrow Western prescribed nuclear family structure expectation and villages that collectively care for one another.

These are the most disturbing of all the principles espoused by BLM. They aim to cancel dads who are the vital bedrock of family that is missing in the Black community. Social sciences agree that children fare better in every measure of well-being when they are raised by married parents and the number one cause of children living in poverty is being born out of wedlock. There is an abundance of research that testifies to the fact that fatherlessness harms children. In 1965, 75% of Black families were led by married parents. Today, nearly 70% of Black children are born out of wedlock. Children, especially boys, need a father. The BLM movement will devastate the Black community if they have their way. Furthermore, it doesnt take a village to raise a child it takes loving parents.

The Frequently Asked Questions section of the toolkit starts by telling teachers the movement is about unpacking their backpack of privilege and how relying on colorblind rhetoric only perpetuates the issues and does nothing to challenge structural racism and White supremacy.

The Q&A section goes on to include a question about teachers rights when teaching materials parents might find inappropriate. The response is, it is the job of an educator to raise students awareness of issues that affect the world and to consider solutions. This is indeed what the job of a teacher has become, but why? When children are failing academically with very low percentages of children proficient in any subject whether they are White or Black, why not focus on teaching children to read, write, and do math?

The Q&A section closes with a question from a teacher who teaches math and science. The teacher asks how to integrate this into their teaching. BLM suggests they use numbers and maps to look at the impact of housing discrimination, low minimum wage, and the school-to-prison pipeline. They also recommend asking students to think about ways to solve deep social problems: how can we reduce the number of losses of life to police violence; and what are ways to end deep poverty? And finally, they suggest just ditching math and science occasionally to talk about how students are feeling about the world around them and engage with them around the work of social change, organizing and building power in the world.

We were warned, nearly prophetically by Thomas Sowell in 2004 who said, Ours may become the first civilization destroyed, not by the power of our enemies, but by the ignorance of our teachers and the dangerous nonsense they are teaching our children. In an age of artificial intelligence, they are creating artificial stupidity.

Sheri Few is the Founder and President of United States Parents Involved in Education (USPIE) whose mission is to end the US Department of Education and all federal education mandates. USPIE has established 20 state chapters and is growing rapidly amid the national outcry from parents who want to regain control of their childrens education. Few is a nationally recognized leader on education policy and is often quoted in conservative media. Few has written extensively about critical race theory and served as Executive Producer for the documentary film titled Truth & Lies in American Education.

Originally posted here:

How Black Lives Matter is destroying public education - Washington Times

Artists and volunteers work on a mural that reads Black Lives Matter on Hamilton Avenue in front of Palo Alto City Hall on June 30, 2020. Each artist was assigned one letter in the mural to paint in their own style. Photo by Magali Gauthier.

Seeking to avoid a summer trial, Palo Alto is asking the courts for a quick ruling on a lawsuit from a group of police officers who claim they were offended by a Black Lives Matter mural that 16 artists painted in front of City Hall in June 2020.

The citys attorney, Suzanne Solomon from the firm Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, filed a motion on Feb. 28 requesting that the Santa Clara County Superior Court issue a summary judgment in May, a ruling that would obviate the need for a two-week trial that is currently scheduled for June 10.

She has asked the court to schedule a hearing on the request on May 28. If the court opts to move ahead with the trial, Solomon has asked that the trial be postponed until June 28 to comply with a 30-day requirement for summary judgments.

The City Council is scheduled to discuss the latest developments in the case in a March 11 closed session.

The six officers Eric Figueroa, Michael Foley, Robert Parham, Julie Tannock, Christopher Moore and David Ferreira filed their lawsuit in July 2021, about a year after the city commissioned artists to paint the mural along Hamilton Avenue, between Ramona and Bryant Streets.

Each of the 16 artists (or, in some cases, artist teams) was commissioned to paint a single letter of BLACK LIVES MATTER. The city removed the mural in the first week of November 2020 with the goal of eventually creating a more permanent art installation.

The mural was part of the citys effort to address nationwide calls for social justice in after George Floyd was murdered by a Minnesota police officer on May 25, 2020. While the mural was only up for about four months, the litigation stemming from the artwork has been winding its way through the legal system for three years. The plaintiffs have maintained that the mural represented a form of harassment. They specifically objected to two images, which are contained in the letters E and R of MATTER.

The E featured Assata Shakur, a civil rights activist and member of the Black Liberation Army who became a fugitive after she was convicted in 1977 of killing a New Jersey state trooper. The R included an image of a black panther, an emblem of the Black Panther Party. In their lawsuit, the police officers claimed the image alludes to the New Black Panther, an antisemitic organization that has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and that has been disavowed by the original Black Panthers.

In March 2022, the Santa Clara County Superior Court rejected an argument from the officers that the citys failure to immediately remove the images constituted workplace discrimination. Judge Socrates Manoukian also found no evidence that the city had engaged in discriminatory conduct or that its failure to remove the mural had anything to do with the officers race, ethnicity or some other protected classification.

But in July of that year, Manoukian rejected the citys position that the officers claim does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action and allowed the case to move forward.

It is not difficult for this court to conclude that by allowing the mural to be posted in its current location, a reasonable jury could conclude that the behavior by the City was outrageous because it abused its relationship with its valuable employees, should have suspected that the plaintiffs were susceptible to injuries through mental distress; or that the city acted intentionally or unreasonably with the recognition that the act would be likely to result in illness through mental distress, Manoukian wrote in the July 5, 2022, ruling.

The citys latest filing seeks to expedite the resolution of the case by requesting a summary judgment on the officers only remaining cause of action: the allegation that the citys decision to keep the mural constitutes harassment that violates the Fair Employment and Housing Act.

In making the argument, Solomon disputed the notion that the mural is objectively offensive.

No reasonable person would have considered public speech on a sidewalk during the summer of 2020, when the entire Country was focused on its history of racial injustice, to be hostility directed toward them personally because they are not African-American, Solomon wrote in her brief. In any event, they were reassured by the City Manager that the City valued their dedication and hard work, and that the City was not endorsing Ms. Shakurs past acts.

She noted that the mural posed no actual physical threat and did not urge anyone to take any action in relation to Plaintiffs due to their races. In fact, the only words in the letter E were, WE MUST LOVE EACH OTHER AND SUPPORT EACH OTHER.

Solomon argued in her new motion that the city is entitled to legislative immunity for all claims relating to the mural because the artwork was made in response to a City Council enactment. She also argued that the city could not have altered the mural without violating the artists First Amendment rights.

She dismissed as false the assertion by the officers that the panther in the R references the New Black Panther Party and argued that it in fact alludes to the original Black Panther Party, which is not a hate group. One of the artists who had painted the letter had similarly told this publication shortly after the lawsuit was filed that he was inspired by the Black Panther Party.

Solomon also took issue with the idea that the Shakur painting somehow discriminates against the officers because of their races. The officers identify as Caucasian, Filipino, Asian and Hispanic, according to the filing.

Plaintiffs attempt to recast their offense as being race-based because the police officer Ms. Shakur was convicted of killing was Caucasian, the Solomon motion states. Plaintiffs believe that the murder was race-based, but their unsupported belief does not transform the message of the letter E, which is racially neutral and urges love and support, presumably for everyone.

She also noted that while the plaintiffs see Shakur primarily as a killer, others see her as a civil rights icon. Cece Carpio, the Oakland-based artist who painted the E, explained her decision to paint Shakur in an email to the city shortly after the officers demanded that the letter be removed.She wrote that she felt it was important to represent the words and wisdom of Assata, who has been a political refugee since 1979.

Assata was a target of policing and COINTELPRO, and is still a target of the policing and the US government, Carpio wrote, referring to the surveillance program of political organizations that the FBI conducted between 1956 and 1971. They see her involvement with the Black liberation movement as a threat to the status quo. Just as they see the movement to defend Black lives as a threat to racial capitalism and white supremacy.

But some in the Police Department saw things differently. Anthony Becker, former president of the Palo Alto Police Officers Association, wrote several emails to City Manager Ed Shikada in July 2020 asking that the mural be removed. The exchanges between Becker and Shikada are included in the exhibits that Solomon had submitted as part of her request for a summary judgment.

The men and women of the PAPOA deserve better, Becker wrote. This portion of the mural is intimating (sic), threatening and promotes violence. To allow such an image to be displayed takes away from the message of the mural.

Shikada responded by noting that the art in the mural was based on a selection process managed by the citys Public Art Commission, a process designed to prevent politicians and bureaucrats from making design decisions.

This is a wise rule, Shikada wrote. As a consequence, however, we open the door to diverse perspectives like the mural. Some have called it brilliant and beautiful, while others have called it idiocy and an insult. Personally, I call it art something I perceive in my own way while understanding that others may see it differently.

Link:

City seeks to avoid trial over Black Lives Matter mural - Palo Alto Online

The NLRB has issued a decision inHome Depot USA, Inc.,holding that an employer violated the National Labor Relations Act when it discharged an employee for refusing to remove the hand-drawn letters BLM the acronym for Black Lives Matter from their work apron.

Several other employees at the same Home Depot store also displayed BLM markings on their work aprons at about the same time.

The National Labor Relations Act protects the legal right of employees to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of mutual aid or protection, regardless of whether they are represented by a union.

The Board applied existing precedent and said that the employees refusal to remove the BLM marking was concerted because it was a logical outgrowth of prior concerted employee protests about racial discrimination in their workplace and an attempt to bring those group complaints to the attention of Home Depot managers.

The employees conduct was also for mutual aid or protection because the issue of racial discrimination involved employees working conditions, the Board found.

Further, the Board said that an employers interference with its employees right to display protected insignia, such as the BLM marking, was presumptively unlawful, and that the employer had the burden of establishing special circumstances making a rule about insignias necessary to maintain production or discipline.

The Board found that Home Depot failed to establish such special circumstances in this case. Therefore, the Board held that the company broke the law when it conditioned the employees continued employment on removal of the BLM marking.

It is well-established that workers have the right to join together to improve their working conditions including by protesting racial discrimination in the workplace, said Chairman Lauren McFerran. It is equally clear that an employee who acts individually to support a group protest regarding a workplace issue remains protected under the law.

Read the original post:

NLRB: 'Black Lives Matter' insignia allowed New England Biz Law Update - New England Biz Law Update

Seemingly overnight, the internet was flooded with photos of former President Donald Trump seemingly surrounded by adoring groups of Black voters. In one idyllically posed portrait, Trump has his arms around two smiling Black women as a larger group scrambles to get in frame.

Small Town Horror Story: The Shopping Cart Killer

Theres just one problem with the photos: theyre all allegedly fake.

A BBC investigation revealed that dozens of photos circulating of President Trump and Black people were AI-generated deep fakes.

In another fake photo, Trump is shown in a suit sitting on a porch stoop with a group of young Black men posing with him as if he was a longstanding member of the friend group.

Fake images of Black Americans doing voter drives for Trump also hit the internet. (Note: the conspicuous three armed person).

Many have called out the photos as intentional disinformation intended to convince voters that Black Americans support Trump. This strategy likely has more to do with anxious white suburban voters than Black people.

According to the BBC, one of the creators of the fake photos was conservative radio host Mark Kaye. In an interview with the BBC, Kaye said he was not a photojournalist and a storyteller.

To be clear, no outlet has linked the photos to the Trump campaign, but they certainly fit the demonstrably false narrative theyve been pushing that Trump has some overwhelming support of the Black community. The former President whos victory at the Supreme Court on Monday, reinstating him on the Colorado ballot puts him one step closer to the Presidency has argued that Black people love him for being arrested.

I got indicted a second time and a third time and a fourth time, and a lot of people said that thats why the Black people like me, because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as Im being discriminated against, said Trump late last month.

Polling shows a different story.

Roughly 83% of Black voters in a January USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll said that the legal actions against Trump were appropriate. His Black support currently hovers around 12%, which isnt exactly what I would call an indication that Black voters like Trump.

Black voters support for former President Joe Biden has slipped in the years since the 2020 election. Still, theres no indication that Trump has suddenly become a hero in the Black community for getting arrested.

Originally posted here:

Photos of Trump with His 'Black Supporters' Are Everywhere ... Can You Tell They're All Fake? - The Root

I can tell you we disagree with the NLRBs decision, Terrance Roper said.

The company can go to court to appeal the NLRB decision. It could offer Morales his job back. But as of Monday afternoon, no decision had been made about how to respond to the NLRB, Roper said.

At this time, I can say were reviewing the full opinion, Roper said.

In making the decision, the NLRB concluded that Morales use of BLM was aimed at the purpose of mutual aid or protection, action by employees that is protected whether or not those workers are represented by a union.

The BLM marking was an extension of prior concerted employee protests about racial discrimination in their workplace and because it was an attempt to bring those group complaints to the attention of Home Depot managers, according to a statement by the NLRB.

Mutual aid or protection by employees was protected by the law, the board said, because it was a response to alleged racial discrimination at Home Depot.

When an employer interferes with employees right to display protected insignia like the BLM marking in this case, that interference is presumptively unlawful, a statement from the NLRB said.

To defend action against an employee, the employer has the burden to establish special circumstances that make the rule necessary, and Home Depot did not demonstrate those special circumstances, the board said.

It is well-established that workers have the right to join together to improve their working conditions including by protesting racial discrimination in the workplace, said NLRB Chairwoman Lauren McFerran, in a statement. It is equally clear that an employee who acts individually to support a group protest regarding a workplace issue remains protected under the law.

The company maintains that it is opposed to bias as a matter of policy, Roper said.

The Home Depot is fully committed to diversity and respect for all people, he said. We dont tolerate any kind of workplace harassment or discrimination.

The NLRB, was created to enforce the National Labor Relations Act, also known as the Wagner Act, which was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935.

It was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court two years later. That decision was something of a surprise, coming after several years in which a conservative court had rejected much of the New Deal.

More than eight decades later, some business interests are again taking aim at the law. Both SpaceX and Amazon have cases in the courts in which they argue that the National Labor Relations Act was unconstitutional.

Originally posted here:

NLRB says Home Depot broke law in banning reference to 'Black Lives Matter' from worker's apron - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

Quick-to-read HR news & insights

From recruiting and retention to company culture and the latest in HR tech, HR Brew delivers up-to-date industry news and tips to help HR pros stay nimble in todays fast-changing business environment.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that Home Depot violated labor rules when it disciplined an employee for wearing a Black Lives Matter (BLM) emblem at work, according to a decision issued Feb. 21.

The 31 decision, which overturned a 2022 ruling by an NLRB administrative judge, came three years after former employee Antonio Morales resigned under duress from Home Depot after he was repeatedly told to remove BLM signage from his work apron.

According to the ruling, Morales was protected under the National Labor Relations Acts mutual aid or protection clause, which the NLRB defines as when two or more employees take a stance with the goal of protecting or improving conditions for all employees. For example, the clause allows employees to wear buttons associated with the stance.

In this instance, Morales had repeatedly voiced concerns to HR about alleged racial discrimination against store workers and customers. He claimed the BLM emblem was meant to signal solidarity with Black colleagues, according to the report.

It is well-established that workers have the right to join together to improve their working conditionsincluding by protesting racial discrimination in the workplace, Lauren McFerran, NLRB chair, said in the ruling. It is equally clear that an employee who acts individually to support a group protest regarding a workplace issue remains protected under the law.

The company must reinstate Morales to his previous position, pay him for lost income, and stop applying its dress code to protected employee activity.

Home Depot disagrees with the ruling, the companys corporate communications manager, Terrance Roper, wrote in an email to HR Brew, adding that Home Depot is fully committed to diversity and respect for all people. We dont tolerate any kind of workplace harassment or discrimination.

Labor lawyers believe the ruling could have further implications for employers, as the NLRB is considering similar racial justice complaints against Whole Foods, Amazon, and Kroger, Reuters reported.

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NLRB rules Home Depot violated the law - HR Brew

As Washington D.C. suffers from a flight of business coinciding with a surge in violent crime, the citys mayor is proposing a $401 million plan to revitalize the capitals struggling downtown, focusing on the troubled area around Black Lives Matter Plaza a few blocks from the White House.

According to the official city website promoting the Downtown Action Plan, the mayor, Muriel Bowser, hopes to create a vibrant, economically sustainable, diverse, and equitable area at the heart of the city.

The proposed spending comes as Black Lives Matter Plaza, a large, multi-million dollar street mural first established in June of 2020, after the anti-police unrest surrounding the death of George Floyd, is facing scrutiny from the districts overseers in Congress. In October, 25 members of the House and Senate wrote Ms. Bowser asking her to remove the mural due to antisemitic comments by Black Lives Matter organizers in the wake of the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Ms. Bowser has refused to remove the mural. In late November, a report by the Washington Examiner found the city recently spent roughly $270,000 maintaining the areas 50-foot painted street-emblazoning of the slogan Black Lives Matter. The establishment of the mural itself as a pedestrian plaza cost more than $5 million.

According to the Washington Business Journal, the cash infusion Ms. Bowser proposes is urgently needed to stem the hemorrhaging as an increasing number of vacancies in the citys downtown area has dented the progressive-run citys coffers.

In a press release circulated on Monday, city officials warn that underutilized commercial space and decreased activity are poised to fuel a self-reinforcing cycle of declining investment, property values, and tax revenues.

The release details that, Annual tax revenue generation in Downtown D.C. has already fallen $243 million since 2019, and this number is poised to decline by an additional $193 million over the next five to 10 years without intervention.

While the mayor and city officials are blaming the downtowns woes on the lasting impacts of the pandemic and increased telecommuting, local businesses and property owners in Washington D.C. are expressing more concern over the rise in crime. The city, which sought to restrain its own police force in the aftermath of the 2020 George Floyd demonstrations, is now suffering from a surge in violent crime amounting to a 40 percent year-over-year increase in 2023.

Robberies, representing one of the prevalent crimes committed in the city, have become a driver of this increase. According to a report by Axios, the affluent Adams Morgan neighborhood experienced a 95 percent increase in robberies in 2023. The Historic Green Triangle has not escaped the crime wave. In the latest incident less than three days prior to the proposals announcement, armed bandits targeted a local jeweler in the Farragut Square area, making off with over $200,000 in watches.

The impact of the upswell in crime has not escaped the Presidents own family. As Sun previously reported, in November, miscreants stole night vision goggles and other gear from a Secret Service vehicle guarding the residence of Naomi Biden, the Presidents granddaughter, in the exclusive Georgetown neighborhood. Shots were fired when the thieves sought to abscond with their loot in a stolen car.

The press release touting the downtown redevelopment plan touts the Historic Green Triangle, consisting of the area between Farragut, McPherson, and Lafayette Squares, which the Black Lives Matter Plaza bisects.

Ms. Bowsers plan touts a reimagination of the area that benefits all residents and businesses by offering jobs, various housing types, and a robust tax base for the District, according to the plans website which was launched on Monday.

The projects intended expenditures include $82 million for streetscape improvements, cultural districts and the arts; $76 million for economic drivers including universities and housing; $55 million for parks and open spaces; and $32 million for public safety initiatives.

Though initially funded by the city and the federal government, officials hope that the private sector eventually doles out investments for the district. The president of the local business improvement district, Katheryn Clement, told the Washington Business Journal that additional investment from the private sector over a period of time is expected after the citys vision and plan is articulated.

The city hopes their plan will kickstart the city from its inflection point that it pins on the lasting impacts of the pandemic.

Partly in response to the crime wave, some of the citys most notable institutions are seeking safer havens elsewhere. Among the exodus are two of the citys professional sports teams, Washingtons Wizards and Capitals.

In an interview with NBC4 Washington earlier in February, the owner of the two teams, Ted Leonis, explained that the rise of crime in the city has become a serious risk factor. Mr. Leonis spoke of his fear of fans being the object of violent crime in the periphery of the stadium.

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DC Seeks $401 Million To Save Black Lives Matter Plaza Area - The New York Sun