BLACK LIVES MATTER ON A PAVEMENT: SIMPLY A BAD IDEA.

ICHEOKU says why do a tribute which will be walked all over and underneath people's feet and vehicles tires. It is only dirt that is allowed to be down below the feet and tires. It was a bad idea as it does not in any way honor Black Lives Matter but only succeeded in placing them down under, beneath people's feet and vehicle tires. By the road signage, Black Lives Matter is now at par with dirt and it is dishearteningly demeaning. It would have been a different case were the BLM letters painted on a wall of a big building as an imposing giant mural, holding aloft the cause. But to put them down on a pavement, a roadway, where peoples shoes will pound them and vehicle tires will continuously run them over like a road kill, it is a statement in surrender and submission. 

It is bad enough that black people are complaining that their necks are under white people's knees; but to now put the entire Black Lives Matter movement under everybody's feet and every vehicle tires is absolutely thoughtless and simply below par. Mayor Muriel Elizabeth Bowser simply out did herself, thinking that she was telegraphing a different message; but inadvertently admitted where black lives actually belong, beneath people's feet and vehicle tires. If she wanted to really honor black lives, she would have placed the sign on the wall of City Hall building or better still erect massive billboards along the entire 16th Street corridor with her Black Lives Matter letters painted on them. The H Street which she renamed BLM Plaza is a more honorable way to pay tribute to the struggle. But the painting of BLM on the pavement on 16th Street is definitely a negative because of necessary connotations. 

The painting reminds ICHEOKU of what Saddam Hussein used to do to taunt America by painting American flag and President George H. Bush's image on the pavement where Iraqis walked all over them with spiteful glee and disdain. It is somewhat similar to throwing a shoe at somebody to show how contemptible the person is and message them  that they are below dirt. So, the Washington DC radical Mayor Bower did not insult the president by her action, rather she has created an otherwise avoidable antagonism for herself which will someday turn around to bite her badly any day she seeks some benefit or bailout from the Federal government. That she is the Mayor does not mean that she owns the streets of Washington DC to paint them as her ego desires. 

So many people who live in Washington DC do not believe in BLM and each time they are forced to walk on the painting, it will further push them away from whatever cause BLM is pursuing. It is one thing to send a message but it a different thing all together to stick it in everybody's face, including those who would rather it was otherwise. Such in your face affront will only succeed in alienating people from each other, especially from the cause, as some white people might start seeing the Black Lives Matter as a struggle for power between white people and black people. People when threatened or feel under siege, reacts for survival and it will not bode well for Black Lives Matter if the majority are provoked as to feel threatened or no longer secure. 

The painting is uncalled for and should be removed, painted over, as soon as possible or immediately following the waning off of the George Floyd's protest. The longer it stays the more people will start having thoughts and reading subliminal messages therein contained as a survival campaign between white people and black people. Such will definitely alienate support for Black Lives Matter and further prolong the resolution of the racial impasse in America. It is as simple as that, all the hullabaloo about George Floyd notwithstanding, that to fix the racial problem in America, the majority white people must first want to fix it, otherwise no deal. So, poking the finger in their eyes or waging the the finger in their face will only make them more reticent and withdrawn as they dig deeper to defend what they feel is theirs. 

Why did Mayor Muriel Elizabeth Bowser not even paint the name of George Floyd on the street or name the street after him in order to immortalize him. But she was pandering to Black Lives Matter with a road painting on a street which belong to everybody, including those to whom black lives does not matter and you wonder what exactly was she thinking. ICHEOKU says condemns the road painting as a needless distraction to the issue of racism and excessive use of force by the police which are currently occupying the minds of American people. The painting is needlessly antagonist, confrontational and demeaning to BLM. Above all, defacing a public street by appropriating it to a particular people of people is not the answer and neither will antagonizing the president help with solving the problem. Only a concerted effort by everyone from both sides of the debate will solve the problem and Mayor Muriel Elizabeth Bowser should advise herself accordingly. #RemoveThePainting.