Washington, DC, officials began jackhammering the stretch of 16th Street NE painted with the controversial "Black Lives Matter" message Monday, a victory for Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA).
The post Exclusive – Black Lives Matter Plaza Jackhammered by D.C. After Pressure from Rep. Andrew Clyde appeared first on Breitbart.
Washington, DC officials began jackhammering the stretch of 16th Street NE painted with the controversial “Black Lives Matter” message Monday, a victory for Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA).
The street on Black Lives Plaza, renamed from Liberty Plaza by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in 2020 as riots following George Floyd’s death paralyzed the city, served as a divisive partisan message during the 2020 campaign season.
On March 3 Clyde reintroduced his bill to remove the message and rename the plaza – just one block from the White House – which Breitbart News reported exclusively.
The following day, Bowser announced she would replace the message with murals.
“It wouldn’t have happened without the pressure,” Clyde told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview Monday. “I mean, we are trying to make a more efficient government, and President Trump is pushing the message that this is the golden era of America. You can’t have a message of ‘Black Lives Matter’ painted on 40-foot letters across multiple blocks of Washington, DC.
“That is a divisive message. The golden era of America is not divisive in nature.”
While the Home Rule Act of 1973 gave D.C. some local autonomy, Congress has the authority to vet all D.C. laws, even outright overturn them, under terms of the law.
Trump has argued for the federal government taking back control over the district’s government amid a wave of crime and homelessness fueled by officials prioritizing woke political posturing over sound governance.
Clyde called the “45-year experiment” of D.C. home rule “an abysmal failure,” criticizing the city for pushing divisiveness even as the November elections were “absolutely a referendum by this country on this type of stuff.”
“It was 100 percent a message from the American people on wokeness, on DEI, on critical race theory, all of that rejected by the American people,” he told Breitbart News.
The Georgia Congressman introduced legislation in the previous Congress to void D.C. home rule. He also introduced bipartisan legislation to overturn a controversial D.C. law weakening criminal statues, a bill that was signed into law by President Joe Biden.
“The Constitution gives Congress complete legislative authority over the city,” Clyde said, adding, “The founding fathers were pretty intelligent men, and they knew that this city was not just for the inhabitants, but for all of America, for everyone in the entire country. And the city is to be a shining light on the hill of liberty.”
Bowser’s statement announcing changes to Black Lives Matter Plaza referenced the federal government’s authority over the district and seemed to imply the change was intended to earn favor from the Trump administration.
“I greatly appreciate the mayor recognizing the authority of Congress and recognizing that we fund the city of Washington, DC,” Clyde told Breitbart News. “When I filed this piece of legislation, it took her right about a day, about 24 hours, to recognize that, ‘Hey, I think it’s really appropriate that we get rid of the Black Lives Matter Plaza and yield to the will of Congress.’ Because we do fund the entire city.”
Clyde insists improving the governance of the nation’s capital “is not a Republican versus Democrat issue. I want the city to be safer. I want it to be more prosperous.”
He added his 2023 legislation turned law to eliminate the city’s soft-on-crime statute “was the first step, and then this is another step right here. It’s small, but I think it’s important symbolically to returning our city to that beacon on the hill.”
Clyde made clear there is more work to be done in Congress to improve the district.
“We have rampant crime in the city that’s only been increasing,” he said. “We have a radical city council that continually makes bad decisions. And it’s time for Congress to exercise its authority and to take it back.”
When asked by Breitbart News if Congress would take further steps on D.C. home rule, Clyde teased there would be more to come.
“Stand by,” he said. “It’s coming.”
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye
