Black Lives Matter street murals stand as an enduring reminder of protests against racism

In 2020, after a summer of protests rocked U.S. cities, the words "Black Lives Matter" went from the rallying cry of racial justice demonstrators to words lining the very roads along which they marched.

In 2020, after a summer of protests rocked U.S. cities, the words "Black Lives Matter" went from the rallying cry of racial justice demonstrators to words lining the very roads along which they marched.

After the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, towns and cities nationwide commissioned artists to paint BLM street murals in solidarity with the reckoning on police brutality and racism prompted by the unprecedented, multiracial mass rallies.

Five years on, many of the murals are still maintained by activists and community groups, while wear and tear, construction and vandalism spelled the end of others. And the mural widely thought to have inspired them all — 35-foot-tall (11-meter-tall) yellow capital letters painted on a street one block from the White House — is gone.

Crews dismantle the Black Lives Matter Plaza street mural in March.Chip Somodevilla / Getty ImagesMuriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington, D.C., ordered crews to remove the BLM mural in March under pressure from the Republican-led Congress. Bowser noted that the mural — an act of defiance against President Donald Trump's first administration — "inspired millions of people and helped our city through a painful period."

Keyonna Jones, one of seven artists who painted Black Lives Matter Plaza, said she understands why Bowser acted and that the mural's removal doesn't take away from its historic importance.