Myron B. Pitts: Fayetteville picked poor time to erase ‘Black Lives Do Matter’
Myron B. Pitts
Last week, a violent mob of Trump supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol in Washington. The rioters tried to intimidate Congress into letting Trump steal the November election he lost to President-elect Joe Biden.
In one disturbing image, a man carried a large Confederate battle flag through the hallowed halls of a building meant to represent all of us. Such a flag did not even appear in the Capitol during the Civil War.
Other protesters wore pro-Nazi shirts. A noose and scaffolding were erected across from the Capitol building.
If ever there is a time where we need peace and justice to prevail, it is now — to counter those symbols we saw of racism and rebellion last Wednesday.
More:City removing 'Black lives do matter' mural from Fayetteville Market House
So it was an especially poor time for the city of Fayetteville to remove the slogans, “Black Lives Do Matter” and “End Racism Now” from around the Market House downtown. The removal began Monday, and nearly all the words were obliterated by Tuesday morning. The circle will be painted over black.
The worst part: This happened with no public discussion. This sharply contrasts with last June, when, after City Council members had a discussion, they voted unanimously and boldly to authorize the murals.
The decision came in the wake of local and national Black Lives Matter protests for social justice in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
The abrupt end to the murals at the Market House, where enslaved Black people were once sold, has been upsetting to many in our community, myself included.
More:Fayetteville mayor apologizes for timing of Black Lives Matter mural removal
I received texts on Monday morning about what was happening and went to see for myself. I arrived in time to see workers erasing the “LIVES” part of the slogan, using a flame. The word “BLACK” had already been reduced to a faint echo of what had just recently been bold, yellow letters.
Mayor: ‘Bad timing’
On Tuesday, Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin told me council members consented to removing the murals in phone conversations he had with each of them in December.
“I’m extremely apologetic about what happened,” he says of the process and Monday’s removal. “It was bad timing.”
He says now it would have been better if the council had added an agenda item at a future council meeting.
“Hindsight is 20/20, we probably should have just put it as an item,” he said.
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Colvin said that in his phone conversations, only Councilwoman Shakeyla Ingram was against the idea of removing the murals and leaving the space blank for now.
Ingram told me she supported a replacement design with different words submitted by the Cool Spring Downtown District as part of the city’s rebranding — if the murals were to be replaced at all.
Colvin said council members’ vote was a response to letters dated Dec. 10 and Dec. 18 from City Manager Doug Hewett, who was looking for guidance on what to do with the murals, which were starting to show wear and tear.
He wrote on Dec. 10 that the “City Council’s approval of the Market House murals contemplated that the murals would be temporarily allowed for several months, but would not be permanent.”
He proposed removing them to coincide with the completion of repairs to the Market House, which was damaged in a May 29 Black Lives Matter protest that turned into a riot. He said the removal could also coincide with the new community branding effort.
He added: “Understanding the community interest around the murals, I know that the removal will be a point of conversation and wanted to make you all aware before we move forward.”
In the Dec. 18 letter, Hewett provided to the council pictures that showed the wear to the letters.
Colvin said Tuesday: “We had an opportunity to touch it up after the two incidents of vandalism. So we really got a lot more life out of it.”
There was not enough council interest in the suggested Cool Spring replacement slogans, which include phrases like, “We Care for One Another” and “We Find a Way.”
So the decision was made to paint the circle black for now, according to Colvin.
Removal delay
In the Dec. 18 letter, Hewett proposed beginning the process to remove the murals on Wednesday, Dec. 30, or Wednesday, Jan. 6. The latter day was coincidentally the date of the Capitol attacks, when Trump supporters tried to disrupt the Congressional certification of Biden’s victory in the Electoral College.
The removal did not begin either day; Colvin says he does not know why. The process is projected to cost just under $5,000.
He says he joined a call Sunday night that included Ingram, Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Jensen and Hewett. The conversation was about “what should go there in light of what happened in D.C.” Colvin says.
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He told the others the council had already made its decision.
But he adds: “it was “7 o’clock on a Sunday night; I really wasn’t zoned into it” and didn’t “connect all the dots.”
Colvin said he did not know the manager planned to move forward on Monday but says the buck stops with him and the council.
MLK Day, Black History Month
The city put out a news release Monday morning after the removal had already started. It noted that the slogans were meant to be temporary.
I don’t think this was clear to many people in June. I think many if not most of us, however, could live with the display being temporary. (Those who opposed the project in the first place can certainly live with it.)
But there should have been a public discussion of what was next, and when the transition would take place.
Ingram suggested the council might have waited until after the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday later this month, or Black History Month in February. Both these strike me as good suggestions.
The city could have touched the paintings up one more time for these milestones, and then we move forward.
We face particularly difficult community conversations about the Market House itself. Some want to tear it down, others want to preserve it as is, still others want to repurpose it.
What happened on Monday was a model of how not to handle these kinds of sensitive talks on race. We need transparency and clear communication.
I understand that the plan to remove the murals was made before the failed insurrection at the Capitol last Wednesday. But sometimes cataclysmic events require adjustments — we saw that with 9/11 and we see it daily with the COVID-19 pandemic.
What happened at the Capitol has caused the country to take a hard look at itself, even as state and federal officials brace for what they say could be more violence in state capitals.
What better time to make bold statements for justice, for peace, for equality?
Instead, the city chose this very time in history to torch and paint over those sentiments on its public streets.
Not a good look.
Opinion Editor Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.
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