Title

Protest signs and artwork on the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, Date: 10 November 2020

Coverage

H Street NW and 16th Street NW, Washington, D.C., USA

Description

Protest signs and posters on the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, located on the north side of Lafayette Park in Washington D.C.

Multiple posters read “GTFO” “Pack Your Bags!” “Black Lives Matter” “Respect Indigenous Rights” “Divest From Corporate [illegible]-colonies” “Protect Black Womxn” “You’re Fired” “Dump Trump" “#BLACKVotersMatter #BlackVOTERSMatter#BlackVotersMATTER” (which are colored in gold, white and red respectively) “Jesus Wasn’t White” “Justice for DeonKay” Super CALLOUS Fragile Racist Sexist FORMER Potus! Bye Don” “We Need Justice” “Welcome Joe and Kamala Biden 2020” “’All Lives Can’t Matter Until Black Lives Matter.” There is a poster that reads “Black Lives Matter” and it is over an image of the American flag.

There is an image from a TV show that shows an actor speaking which reads “And that’s when I said, ‘No, Mr. Trump You’re fired!’”

A poster reads “’Raise A Glass To Freedom Something They Can Never Take Away.’” There are two champagne glasses drawn on the poster and the words “Freedom” and “Never Take Away” are highlighted in red with the rest of the statement written in blue.

There is a list of names of victims of police brutality on cardboard and reads “Say Their Names [;] Deborah Danner 1950 – 2016 Tamir Rice 2002 – 2014 Pearlie Golden 1921 – 2014 George Floyd 1974 – 2020 Sandra Bland 1987 – 2015 Freddie Gray 1989 – 2015 Kathryn Johnston 1914 – 2006 Sean Bell 1983 – 2006 Rekia Boyd 1989 – 2012 Stephon Clark 1995 – 2018”

Source

The Black Lives Matter Memorial fence was a temporary chainlink fence installed in the area north of Lafayette Park and the White House from June 2, 2020, until January 30, 2021. The fence prevented public access to the area, and it also served as an important site of protest and self-expression.

Activist Nadine Seiler played a crucial role in protecting and caring for the fence, along with Karen Irwin and other activists in a loosely-formed group informally known as the "Guardians of the Fence." Nadine Seiler and Aliza Leventhal systematically documented the fence over the course of months, and Seiler became the de facto curator of the fence. 

Additional information: 

Library of Congress blog post "Protest Preserved: Signs from D.C.'s Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence" 

D.C. Public Library Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence Artifact Collection”

Rights

Photographer: Aliza Leventhal

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Publisher

Urban Art Mapping

Date

2020-11-10

Contributor

MM

Identifier

UAM-GF_3748