Protest signs and artwork on the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, Date: 24 November 2020

Title

Protest signs and artwork on the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, Date: 24 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 “It’s a Beautiful Day to Destroy White Supremacy” and then there is a poster underneath with stripes going down in the colors red, white, and blue and it reads “Elections Belong To We The People”. A white poster reads “Defund The Police Liberate From Bondage The Revolution Is Now” “MPD Kills Unarmed Black DC Residents & Protects Armed Fascists”

Some posters have two black power fists that reads, “Black Joy Matters” and there are multiple different colors as the background of the poster. Underneath this is a poster from left to right that reads “We Will Prevail [;] Don’t Hold Your Vote… We said BLACK LIVES MATTER [;] We know ALL LIVES MATTER [;] Never said Only BLACK LIVES MATTER [;] But If You Hold Your Vote None Of This Matters [;] We Will Prevail” and this poster has drawn hearts scattered throughout the poster. There is a poster with a rainbow background that reads “Black Lives Matter”

A poster has different languages which are in Spanish, English, French, Swahili, Hebrew, and Russian respectively and it reads “Mierda 12 [;] Fuck 12 [;] Merde 12 [;] Kutomba 12 [;] זִיוּן 12 [;] блядь 12”

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

2020-11-24

Contributor

MM

Identifier

UAM-GF_3760