Protest signs and artwork on the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, Date: 30 November 2020

Title

Protest signs and artwork on the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence, Date: 30 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. 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. There are protestors in front of the fence sitting and standing, and one person is holding a flag and waving it.

Multiple posters read “Abolish Prisons Save Black Lives” “Quit your job, MPD! You class traitor fascist evil racist sexist asswipes!!” “Defund MPD” “Defend Black Lives” “Black Lives Matter”

There is a transgender flag on the fence which is pink, white, and blue and reads “Black Trans Lives Matter."

There is a painted image of a man with blue white and black paint with his eyes closed that reads “Free Your Mind.” There are small quotes written on the poster that read “Black futures matter” “Black joy matters” “No human is illegal on stolen land” “Black Trans Lives Matter! “BLM 4 Ever” “Stop Killing Us -Laiah Ban[illegible]” “Just. Be. Kind.” “Seriously” “Why Do You Hate Black People So Much” “Black Men We Love You!” There are two other images on the poster that are too blurry to determine.

A poster reads “Think Outside Your Carceral State of Mind Imagine Abolition”

There is a poster that has a drawing of a US postage mail box. Underneath this is another poster that has been washed out and the only legible word is “Badge”.

There is a poster that has a black power fist which was painted in different colors that are navy, purple, green, pink, orange, and light blue.

There is a close-up of the fabrics and shows four different pieces hanging on a string on the fence with different patterns and colors and writing on them. They are orange, purple, black/white, and a red checkered pattern. Respectively there is a small white square in the middle of the fabric squares and they read “Carlos Alcis 1970-2013” “Frankie Ann Perkins 1997” “Remember Them” “Dreasjon Reed 1999-2020” “Larry Eugene Jackson Jr.”

There are fifteen pieces of fabric that are hanging on a string on the fence with different patterns and colors and writing on them. They read “Alisia Tromae” “Laquan McDonald” “Manuel ‘Mannie’ Ellis” “William Howard Green Jr.” “Chad Robertson” “Michael Lee Marshall” “Carlos Alcis” “Frankie Ann Perkins 1997” “Remember Them” “Dreasjon Reed 1999-2020” “Larry Eugene Jackson Jr.” “Deborah C

The 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 and it reads “We Are The Ones We’ve Been Waiting For” encircling the eye.

There is a poster that reads “A…racisthomophobiczenophobicislamophobiclyingthievingunfaithfulconnivingunpatriotccowardlydumballegedpedophileallegedrapistmisoginisticcrankydimwittedcravendaughter-oglingsmall-handedwhoringvaingreedydraft-dodgingwhinyAFman-baby……says what?” and it has an image of Donald Trump’s head on it with a speech bubble coming from him that reads “What?” and in the corner of the poster reads “Biden 20[star symbol]” On Donald Trump’s head is a black square and a red swastika and reads “Secure Your Place In The Future”

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.

We seek to identify artistic creators when they want to be identified, and we respect their rights to protect their identity should they choose to remain anonymous. Please contact us if you are the creator of work in this archive and you wish to be identified or if you wish for your work to be removed from the archive.

Publisher

Urban Art Mapping

Date

2020-11-30

Contributor

MM

Identifier

UAM-GF_3766