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Paint splatter on the Black Lives Matter mural on Indiana Avenue between between the Indianapolis Urban League and the Madam Walker Legacy Center on Sunday, Aug. 8. 2020.
WFYI NewsA street mural reading "Black Lives Matter" in Downtown Indianapolis was defaced over the weekend. On Sunday morning the artwork on Indiana Avenue was covered with splatters of gray paint.
Indy 10 Black Lives Matter organizer Leah Deeray posted a video on Instagram and described the vandalism as an expected response from those against their cause.
"It is still beautiful, we still love it. And yeah, we are going to keep fighting," Deeray said. "This mural did not stop anything. We are going to keep fighting."
Indy 10 and other local activist groups call for police reforms and accountability for Indianapolis officers involved in the shooting death of two black men this year, including May 6 fatal police shooting of 21-year-old Dreasjon “Sean” Reed.
The name of Reed and other black people killed by police are part of the mural, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
The Indianapolis City-County Council approved the mural. It was created on August 1st. IMPD is investigating the vandalism.
When the mural was created Mali Jeffers, a community organizer, said goal was to “continue the conversation to end systemic racism globally, so we’re joining the movement that’s happening everywhere."
Similar murals painted elsewhere in the U.S. have been vandalized.
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