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The words “Black Lives Matter’’ is being painted on the street on First Avenue South in Birmingham, between 16th and 17th streets South near Railroad Park.
The project, mirrored after one in Washington, D.C., will require the road to be blocked off June 17-19, as organizers hope to complete the project by Friday to celebrate Juneteenth.
The words “Black Lives Matter” have recently been painted on streets in other cities around the nation. Here is live video of the Birmingham painting:
“The project developed after two people, who did not know each other, contacted the Mayor’s Office with the same idea,” a statement from the Birmingham mayor’s office read.
“Cara McClure of Black Lives Matter Birmingham contacted Mayor Randall L. Woodfin with an interest to celebrate Juneteenth and honor activists and foot soldiers by painting “Black Lives Matter’’ on a Birmingham street…McClure, however, was unaware that Birmingham mural artist Shawn Fitzpatrick had contacted the Mayor’s Office of Public Information this month with an idea to duplicate the D.C. message.”
The two concepts were merged, and a block near Railroad Park was selected as the space to display the intended message from both groups.
Work is slated to begin on Wednesday, city officials said.
“At this time, it is hard to say the time the actual painting will start on Wednesday, as crews will first assess the area, layout and consult with the participants in the morning. The goal is to have the project finished before Friday, June 19, which is Juneteenth. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union general Gordon Granger read federal orders in Galveston, Texas, that all previously enslaved people in Texas were free. Prior to that, those individuals did not now (sic) they had been freed,” the city’s statement read.
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