A Trip to See Black Lives Matter Plaza and White House Protest Fence

 On Saturday, Nov. 21, we ventured into Washington, DC and met our friend Sai for a very nice  socially distant, outside lunch in the 60 degree sunshine. We were a couple of blocks away from the White House and wanted to walk around and see some of the things that had changed since we last went in town (maybe a couple of years ago). 

(Photo Top right: Rob, Tom and Sai at the Protestor Wall around the north side of the White House) 

(Photo Left: Building sized-banner put up by National Geographic)

 We didn't like going in town during the Trump presidency - I was always wary of the right wing groups there. This time, though, his last rally ended earlier in the week and left the city, so it was safe to go in. We walked through Black Lives Matter Plaza - there on 16th street, north of the White House. It's now a pedestrian street, so you can walk on the bright yellow letters on the street that spell out "Black Lives Matter." 

  Up the street from there, we saw the Headquarters for National Geographic, and they hung a building sized banner on one side of a building facing their headquarters with the "Black Lives Matter" saying. 

  At the White House Fence (put up as a barrier to protestors of Trump), there was a lot of artwork to read. First, know the origin. Here's a summary of it from News.Art.Net: In June, 2020, the fence erected outside the White House by President Donald Trump to keep demonstrators and protestors at least 600 feet away has been transformed into a memorial wall for George Floyd and a protest site demanding racial and social justice.

The wall has been covered in posters commemorating the lives of Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Emmett Till, and other African Americans killed by the police or in other racially charged murders. Other posters bears slogans criticizing the president, or demanding that police departments be defunded. 

The wall had some amazing signs... and one that resonated with me was "January 20, 2021 can't come fast enough."  This blog contains some of the pictures we took of many other signs.