Work crews in Washington, D.C., have begun dismantling and repainting the Black Lives Matter Plaza. The words “Black Lives Matter” were painted on the pavement in large yellow letters on a street just north of the White House as a tribute to the nationwide uprising following George Floyd’s 2020 murder. The street mural was meant to be permanent until Republicans last week introduced a bill threatening to withdraw federal funding for D.C. unless it painted over the words and renamed the area Liberty Plaza. Area residents stopped by the street mural Monday for a final look before construction crews destroyed it.

Kristy McDowell: “I felt it was important to come down here and just see it one last time before it went away, since, you know, the president put a mandate on her [the Washington mayor] to get rid of it or he would take funding away from the district.”