Black Lives Matter street art being removed, drawing backlash in South Carolina city
Black Lives Matter art is being removed from a South Carolina city street, sparking backlash from some people who say it’s going away too soon.
City officials said artists used the wrong type of paint and the mural was a target of vandalism, prompting the city of Florence to get rid of it, Mayor Stephen J. Wukela said in a statement shared Friday with McClatchy News.
The street art was created in early September and featured a chain, crown and other symbols surrounding the words Black Lives Matter, photos show. The message adorned the pavement in front of the Pearl Moore Basketball Center.
In their proposal for the mural, organizers said they would use biodegradable paint and that it wouldn’t be a “permanent fixture,” according to the city. The letter did not indicate if the paint would wash away.
“The City authorized the temporary mural to be painted with biodegradable paint that would wash away within a normal rain cycle,” Wukela said in his statement.
However, Wukela said artists used “permanent paint.”
In the mayor’s statement about removing the mural, he also said “bigots” scrawled on the mural.
“I am deeply disturbed by the racially motivated vandalism of this piece of art,” Wukela wrote. “I am also disappointed in the organizer’s failure to comply with the terms of the authorization for which they applied.”
Artists used road paint that was biodegradable and had already shown signs of fading, mural organizer C. Wyleek Cummings told McClatchy News on Friday.
“This is much broader and bigger than a brand of paint,” Cummings said, according to WPDE. “Is it that the message is under assault? And if that is the case yes, this is 2020. We have already lost so much. What else, do you plan to take, our dignity?”
Some in the community said they saw the Black Lives Matter mural as a symbol of respect and didn’t want to see it go.
“Leave it alone its not hurting anything or anyone,” one person wrote on the TV station’s Facebook page.
“It was bliss,” said Suzanne La Rochelle of Action Together Pee Dee, according to WBTW. “The Black community was feeling heard, understood, respected and now you want to slap them in the face and remove this.”
But not everyone saw it the same way.
“Should not have been allowed in the first place IF others were not allowed (All Lives Matter; Blue Lives Matter),” one person wrote on the Facebook page for the TV station.
Florence’s mayor said the city will no longer allow permits for painting streets.
The city is roughly 65 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach.
This story was originally published October 23, 2020 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Black Lives Matter street art being removed, drawing backlash in South Carolina city."
