The wall, approved by the Indianapolis City-County Council in July, is painted with the names and photos of Black Americans murdered by police officers such as Michael Taylor, Dreasjon Reed and Breonna Taylor. Other themes, such as the importance of votes and Black pride, were also painted.
But on Sunday morning, the community woke up to see that each letter had been vandalized with splashes of white and gray paint.
“It’s just awful,” said Rebecca Robinson, the artist who painted the “L” in “Black” in a Facebook Live video, when she showed the damaged mural. “It’s just so disappointing because everyone worked so hard.”
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department told CNN affiliate WRTV that it was investigating the vandalism, but gave no further details. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN.
Indy10 Black Lives Matter, one of the groups that helped organize the mural, said the incident did not fight his fight for Black lives.
“Just as our parents, elders and ancestors persisted under burning crosses on their front lawns, so will we,” the group said in a Facebook post Sunday. “YOU can not stop the revolution. We are still here. It is happening in all of us. Paint can not stop that.”
When the group asked for further comment, the group referred CNN to their statement on Facebook.
Murals that support the movement for social justice have appeared in the US since widespread protests fueled by the death of George Floyd.
The Indianapolis mural, located on Indiana Avenue, is simply the last blacklisted art screen for Black Lives Matter.
The mural outside Trump Tower in Manhattan in downtown Manhattan has been vandalized at least four times since it was made in early July. Other murals of Black Lives Matter in Washington, Vermont, California were also vandalized.
