Local church leaders, activists and officials quickly condemned the destruction of the banners. In a statement on Sunday, the Rev. Dr. Ianther M. Mills, the senior pastor at Asbury United Methodist Church, called the images “reminiscent of cross burnings. … Seeing this act on video made me both indignant and determined to fight the evil that has reared its ugly head.”
Rev. William Lamar, the pastor of the Metropolitan AME Church, told The Kojo Nnamdi Show this week that he “was aware of a pain of being violated in some way” when he heard the news that his church’s banner had been destroyed.
“We were not the first to experience this type of challenge, and unfortunately until the narrative changes, we won’t be the last,” Lamar said.
At-Large D.C. Councilmember Elissa Silverman also expressed her dismay at the sign burning, and incoming Ward 4 councilmember Janeese Lewis George said on Twitter that the crime demonstrated two “separate and unequal” justice systems in the U.S.
Anthony Lorenzo Green, a core organizer with the D.C. chapter of Black Lives Matter, echoed that sentiment, saying that both Mayor Muriel Bowser and MPD failed “to protect the rights of D.C. residents and to stop the racist attacks by the Proud Boys against Black people, Black churches and others who stand against racism.”
I find the BLM banners offensive.
The equivalent of the hammer and sickle.
the senior pastor at Asbury United Methodist Church, called the images “reminiscent of cross burnings.
Burn a BLM banner and it’s ‘a cross burning’
Burn a Trump flag or American flag and it’s ‘free speech expression’
Keep keeping black folk on the plantation with those dog whistles, just keep keeping it up and see what happens when the black folk stop listening and start watching how they’re manipulated