Following the brutal murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Africa-American, by a white police officer, a number of protests and riots erupted all over the United States, against the highly prevalent racial discrimination towards Black communities. However, after the protesters invaded the White House, a tall, 1.7-mile long metal fence was built around the President’s residence. Not only that, it was reinforced by large concrete barriers too, on June 5th.
The protesters were not let down by this act. Their signs were not lowered and voices were not silenced. Instead, they found the best way to make use of the unexpected situation. The protesters put hundreds of signs and posters up the fence, and turned the fence into a 1.7-mile long crowd-sourced monument to battle racial discrimination against African-American communities.
This beautiful monument signifies the Black Lives Matter movement, and stands as a memorial that honors the lives of people who were victims of racial injustice.
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Image credits – AlexandraChalup
African-American communities in the United States have been constantly putting up with racism and white-supremacy for a long time, and Floyd’s unreasonable murder was the last straw for them to jump onto massive protests and claim their rights, freedom, and justice. After the fence was set up, though everybody expected the protesters to violently voice their dissatisfaction, they did the complete opposite. They peacefully decorated the fence with whatever they had, be it signs, posters, paintings, even balloons, and transformed it into a beautiful memorial.
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Image credits – AlexandraChalup
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According to Marisa Lati from the Washington Post, on the 10th day of protests in Washington D.C., the atmosphere outside the White House was very relaxed and peaceful, with no armed policemen in sight.
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She managed to get some brief interviews from protesters too. Marcus Bolston told her that when his multiracial 4-year-old daughter questioned him about what she saw on TV, he told her that “Black people aren’t being treated fairly”, for which she replied, “Like when someone doesn’t want to be your friend?”, much to his dismay.
Another man publicly called out Donald Trump, saying that this fence was a “metaphor for his entire presidency.”
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Image credits – hannah_natanson
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Image credits – marisa_iati