From The Tribune staff reports
BIRMINGHAM – The Black Lives Matter movement will etch itself into the fabric of Birmingham in the coming days following the city’s announcement that the phrase will be painted on a roadway near Railroad Park.
Work began on Wednesday, June 17, 2020, to paint “Black Lives Matter” on 1st Avenue South between 16th Street and 17th Street. The streets will be blocked off from June 17-19 for installation.
Cara McClure of Black Lives Matter Birmingham and artist Shawn Fitzwater are teaming to create a “Black Lives Matter" street painting on First Avenue South. Organizers hope to have it ready in time for Friday’s Juneteenth events. pic.twitter.com/RSnOxC4GSU
— City of Birmingham (@cityofbhamal) June 17, 2020
The project is the brainchild of both Cara McClure, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Birmingham, and Birmingham mural artist Shawn Fitzwater, who owns Fitz Hand Painted Signs. McClure broached the idea to Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, while Fitzwater reached out to the Mayor’s Office of Public Information for permission to paint a city street.
“On June 5th I saw an article where the people of DC had painted “BLACK LIVES MATTER” in the streets. Several friends were sending me the same article and saying, ‘We need to do this!’ Fitzwater posted on a Facebook group named Bham Muralist Collaborative. “I thought it was cool but figured there no way we could get this passed with all the loopholes we had to jump through and get our wall approved.
“However, I always live by, ‘It never hurts to ask’ … So I did. I sent the mayors office a brief email with that article attached simply asking ‘Wouldn’t this be cool in Bham?’ Well, a couple of weeks later I get a phone call from none other than the mayors office (yesterday actually), I had honestly forgotten all about it so it sort of caught me off guard. They asked me all sorts of questions and then said they’d call me back.
“Long story short … this project has been green lighted by the mayors office!”
The city is providing the paint, equipment and workers from the Department of Transportation. Volunteers and local artists are filling in the letters with street paint.
The painting is expected to be finished in time for Juneteenth, which is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.