Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser has allowed rioters to spray paint all over the city and has commissioned Black Lives Matter graffiti to be painted on DC streets and was apparently unfazed when BLM protesters then added “Defund the Police.”
There are no reports of arrests that I can find in relation to this act of vandalism; indeed, the second painted message is still there and there are no plans to remove it. Protesters using chalk to write “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” on the sidewalk of Bowser’s town, however, is an offense requiring arrest.
Two pro-life protesters were arrested in DC over the weekend for just that. Supporting black pre-born lives, the message sent, is unacceptable, but spray-painting “BHAZ” on St. John’s Church or any of the other acts of graffiti (using spray paint, not chalk) are just dandy. “BHAZ” stood for their quickly dashed hopes of a CHAZ/CHOP copycat called the “Black House Autonomous Zone.”
The Washington Post reports (archive link):
Two protesters outside a Planned Parenthood facility were arrested and charged with defacing public or private property early Saturday, according to D.C. police and video footage.Erica Caporaletti, a 22-year-old student at Towson University, and Warner DePriest, a 29-year-old D.C. resident, were writing “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” with chalk on the sidewalk when police arrested them.The arrests happened just before 6 a.m., soon after a group of about two dozen people, led by the antiabortion advocacy group Students for Life of America, showed up to paint in the street of the 1200 block of Fourth Street NE as part of what they called a campaign to highlight the impact of abortion on Black communities.
Students for Life posted a video of the arrests:
As the students mention in the video, they had a permit for the protest and state that the police had informed them to use a particular kind of erasable chalk / paint for their message. Chalking protest messages is very common and has been allowed not only in DC but in cities across the country, but in DC, apparently, it’s not the chalk, it’s the message.
Students for Life of America leaders said they informed police and city officials during the permit process that they would be painting the message on the 1200 block of 4th Street NE, citing the precedent of the protesters who painted “Defund the Police” in June on 16th Street NW.“We were told verbally that we would not be prevented from painting and what kind of paint to buy,” said Students for Life spokesperson Kristi Hamrick in an email, adding that the group was told to use non-permanent tempera paint.. . . . Pro-life leaders were outraged, accusing District officials of viewpoint discrimination after allowing protesters to paint the anti-police message on 16th Street NW in large yellow letters next to the city-sanctioned “Black Lives Matter” street message.In a statement, SLA president Kristan Hawkins said that “D.C. Mayor Muriel Bower has made her motives clear as she apparently only thinks that SOME Black Lives Matter and that only SOME slogans are allowed to be painted on streets.”“After applying and receiving our permit for this event today, after being told by the Metropolitan police that the Mayor has quote ‘opened a Pandora’s box’ by painting public streets, we arrived to find six police cars threatening to arrest our team and students if they painted, even using the tempura [sic] paint we bought that the Police Department specifically requested,” said Ms. Hawkins.“When we asked if we could at least use sidewalk chalk to chalk our anti-violence message on the streets, the police threatened to arrest us,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Washington Times notes, BLM protesters’ “Defund the Police” graffiti painted next to the city-sanctioned BLM graffiti will not be removed.
The District Department of Public Works told Fox5 that the “surprise message painted by activists next to DC’s massive BLACK LIVES MATTER mural will not be removed,” the station reported June 7.
“Eat the Rich” and “Defund the Police” are fine messages for DC, but “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” is not. Got it. I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised since Bowser also decides who is permitted to got to church and who is not (guess who is not).
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