Protest signs and artwork on the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, Date: 28 November 2020

Title

Protest signs and artwork on the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, Date: 28 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 is an image of the Memorial Fence and the Washington Monument. Behind it there are a bike, chairs, coolers, protesters, and bags that are in front of the fence. There are people are in front of the fence and one is holding a poster protesting. Multiple posters read “Stop Killing Us” “Pay A Black Woman Today” “Black Lives Matter” “Resist “We are the Majority” “Black Power” “Defeat White Supremacy” “Sex Is Great But Have You Ever Fucked The System” “ Fuck Your Fence “ We See Another Black Man Murdered” Imagine Justice” “Just Love” “Beware of the Dog” “Black Trans Lives Matter” “Trump Is A Danger To Us All” “White silence Fuels Domestic [illegible]” “#DefundMPD EndSARS” “Fuck Your Fence” “Join Campaign Zero” “#Say Their Names” “White Supremacy is Deadly” “State of Injustice” “Protect Democracy From GOP” “Jesus knows Black Lives Need More Than Thoughts & Prayers”. There is also a Mexican flag hanging from the stoplight and a flag that reads “Fuck Trump.” There is a poster with a drawing of two black power fists raised and Colin Kaepernick taking a knee. There is a mask of Donald Trump with a Hitler mustache drawn on and a drawing of Breonna Taylor.

Multiple posters read “Breonna Taylor” “Say Their Names” “Back Lives Matter Matter Matter” “Say His Name” “Bring Our Soldiers Back” “Solidarity Not Sympathy” “The People Have Spoken!!” “If Your Religious Beliefs Oppose Contraception, Don’t Use It” “Black Power Matters” “Racial Justice = Climate Justice” “Class Dismissed Betsy!! #OnBehalfOfALLTeachers” “Divided We Fall.”

Many posters read “Black Trans Lives Matter” and the posters are in the colors of the transgender flag or the American flag.

Some flowers have been placed on the fence themselves.

There is a painting that shows a cityscape and there are three hammers on top of each other that are held by black hands. These hammers are breaking a police badge that is cracked open and reveals an American dollar bill.

There is a poster that is painted like an upside-down American flag that has two shadow hands that are painted on it.

A poster that is falling down reads “I went to John Marshall Elem. School 50 yrs. Ago with the Day twins. 20 years before Sandra Day O’Connor was appointed to the Supreme Court.”

Multiple posters read Black Lives Matter Matter Matter” and “Eyes Open”. The second poster is a lavender color and an image of an eye in the middle with a teardrop as the pupil and circles extending outwards from the eye.

A poster reads “Environmental Justice because Black Lives Matter

There is a poster that reads “Black Women’s Lives Matter #SayHerName” and around the border of the poster are the names of women who have been victims of police brutality and it reads “Sandra Bland – Breonna Taylor – Shelly Frey – Kendra Ja[illegible] – Kayla [illegible] – Tanisha Anderson – Michelle Cusseaux – Alberta Spruill – Rekia Boyd – Sharmel Edwards – LaTanya Haggerty – Gabriella Nevarez – Shantel Davis – Malissa Williams – Miriam Carey”

There is a cardboard poster that reads “No Justice No Peace” with “Justice” and “Peace” painted in red to stand out and has two black power fists painted on it.

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

Images are collected in this archive for educational purposes and are not intended for commercial use. Reproduction rights for all images remain with the creators/photographers when we are able to identify them.

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Publisher

Urban Art Mapping

Date

2020-11-28

Contributor

MM

Identifier

UAM-GF_3764