Protest signs and artwork on the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, Date: 18 November 2020

Title

Protest signs and artwork on the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, Date: 18 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.

There are two large white tapestry’s that reads “Abolition Now” and “Fuck White Supremacy.” There is a large “X” that crosses out “white supremacy”.

Multiple posters read “Protect Black Womxn Love Respect Uplift” “Black Trans Lives Matter” “Say Their Names” “Reclaiming our...time. history. Choices. SPACE.”

There is a poster that reads “Black Trans Lives Matter” and the poster has the colors of the trans flag which are blue, pink, and white.

A white poster reads “Hey Donald! G.T.F.O. of Washington, D.C.! @ejbjazz [illegible]”

On a concrete roadblock with the Memorial Fence and Washington Monument in the background, it reads “Fake Police Abuse People For Real Here (Not An Act)”

A poster reads “school house edu and there is a drawing of a blackboard that is in front of didn’t colored circles that are supposed to represent ‘people’. This blackboard reads “’I’m tired of waiting for the day my racial justice lesson can be a history lesson...not a current events lesson. BLACK LIVES MATTER!’”

On the ground, multiple statements are written in chalk and it reads “This Is What Democracy Looks Like!” which is encircled in a speech bubble. Underneath this reads “Black Trans Lives Matter” and “BLM” as well as a drawing of a heart.

There is a crosswalk that has names of those who were victims of police brutality and on the white stripes of the crosswalk reads “MPD Murdered Karon Hylton Deon Kay Breonna Taylor [;] Protect Black Women [;] Fuck 12 Fire Newsham Fire Bagshaw” and on a poster that is hanging on a fence near this crosswalk reads “Fuck My Privilege Black Lives Matter”

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 Levanthal

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Publisher

Urban Art Mapping

Date

2020-11-18

Contributor

MM

Identifier

UAM-GF_3753