New York City will name a street ‘Black Lives Matter’ in each borough
(CNN) — New York City will name a street at a “crucial” location in each borough for “Black Lives Matter,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.
“What will be clear — the street name and on the streets of our city — is that message that now this city must fully, fully deeply feel and this nation must as well, that Black Lives Matter,” de Blasio said.
One of the locations will be near City Hall, and the other locations will be decided with participants, activists and city leaders, de Blasio said.
“Black Lives Matter” will also be painted on the streets.
The announcement came after a Sunday meeting with activists, including Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, who died in 2014 after an NYPD officer used a chokehold on him. The officer, Daniel Pantaleo, was fired but did not face criminal charges.
Spurred by the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other black people, protesters have marched in New York City for the past few weeks and called for an end to systemic racism in policing. Some protesters have called to “defund the police,” and de Blasio said Sunday he plans to shift funding from police to youth and social services.
Last week, Washington, DC, painted “Black Lives Matter” in large yellow letters down a busy DC street. Mayor Muriel Bowser also officially deemed the section of 16th Street bearing the mural as “Black Lives Matter Plaza,” complete with a new street sign.
Photo Credit: (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)