<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">This week, government workers near the White House, on two blocks lined with luxury hotels and union headquarters, used a jackhammer and a pickax to tear up a mural that read “Black Lives Matter,” painted on the road during the long hot summer of 2020.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The symbolism was potent.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The erasure of the bold yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza, installed on 16th Street after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, was a <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/us/politics/black-lives-matter-mural-dc.html" title="">concession</a> from Washington’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, who faced threats from congressional Republicans to cut off federal funds to the capital city if the words were not removed. But to Black Americans grappling with a fierce resurgence of forces that they believe are beating back the causes of social justice and civil rights, it felt like much more.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">That plaza was “spiritual,” said Selwyn Jones, an uncle of Mr. Floyd. “But them taking the time to destroy it, that’s making a statement, man. That’s making a statement, like we don’t care.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Even those who did not put much faith in the mural to begin with were taken aback.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“Bowser caving immediately to the faintest hint of pressure on the name of the plaza is somehow even more cynical than the move to name it Black Lives Matter Plaza in the first place,” said Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, a Black associate professor of philosophy at Georgetown.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">A movement that once crested with <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://x.com/mittromney/status/1269758561720156160" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">a former Republican senator, Mitt Romney</a>, marching in the streets has now waned. After a brief window of conversation about the ways racism had impeded the progress of Black citizens, the country in November chose to return President Trump to the White House, after he called the <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/us/politics/trump-bubba-wallace-nascar.html" title="">words “Black Lives Matter” a</a> “<a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/us/politics/trump-bubba-wallace-nascar.html" title="">symbol of hate</a>” and <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/17/trump-black-lives-matter-1619-project-417162" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">Black-centered history “toxic propaganda”</a> at the end of his first term.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="ImageBlock-3"><div data-testid="imageblock-wrapper"><figure aria-label="media" class="img-sz-large css-hxpw2c e1g7ppur0" role="group"><div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" data-testid="photoviewer-children-figure"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Image</span><div class="css-nwd8t8" data-testid="lazy-image"><div data-testid="lazyimage-container" style="height:261.64444444444445px"></div></div></div><figcaption class="css-1g9ic6e ewdxa0s0" data-testid="photoviewer-children-caption"><span class="css-jevhma e13ogyst0">The erasure of Black Lives Matter Plaza, created in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd, was fraught with symbolism as President Trump rolls back diversity and equity initiatives.</span><span class="css-14fe1uy e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span><span><span aria-hidden="false">Michael A. McCoy for The New York Times</span></span></span></figcaption></figure></div></div><div data-testid="Optimistic-4"><div class="css-1336jj"><div class="css-121kum4"><div class="css-171quhb"></div><div class="css-asuuk5"><noscript><div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-1b5b8u1" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><path clip-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message"><p class="css-3kpklk">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-3kpklk">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div></noscript><div class="css-1dv1kvn" id="optimistic-truncator-a11y" tabindex="-1"><hr/><p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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