News & Politics

Black Lives Matter Plaza Has Been Paved Over

It's a strange sight, almost a year after the streetscape was dedicated.

Black Lives Matter Plaza, repaved. Photo by Evy Mages

There’s something missing from Black Lives Matter Plaza in downtown DC. The big yellow letters that once spelled out the new street name are no longer visible.

As WJLA reports, the yellow letters have been paved over. Utility work, meanwhile, is being performed underneath the street, according to NBC 4. The bright yellow paint had been fading recently, and there’s been some traffic flowing over part of the plaza for weeks. Still, the void makes for a strange sight at a streetscape that has become a vibrant symbol and gathering place for Washington over the past year.

A new way to commemorate the site is in the works. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has said the city is working on an art installation for the Plaza. But the details of the plan haven’t been fully fleshed out. “Right now we are undergoing a process to make the installation more permanent,” she said in a recent interview with The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart. “With lighting and landscaping. And all the things that you’d expect in an iconic art installation.”

It’s not clear exactly when the work will be finished.

Senior Writer

Luke Mullins is a senior writer at Washingtonian magazine focusing on the people and institutions that control the city’s levers of power. He has written about the Koch Brothers’ attempt to take over The Cato Institute, David Gregory’s ouster as moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press, the collapse of Washington’s Metro system, and the conflict that split apart the founders of Politico.