De Blasio says Black Lives Matter ‘transcends any notion of politics’

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday that the Black Lives Matter movement “transcends any notion of politics,” as he defended allowing the words to be painted on streets across the city while not approving similar mural requests from groups like the pro-cop Blue Lives Matter.

“This is about something much bigger than any one group,” de Blasio said during his daily City Hall press briefing in response to a reporter’s question about whether he would green-light mural requests from groups like Blue Lives Matter and Women for America First.

“This is about righting a wrong and moving forward. So I think that’s the right approach,” Hizzoner said as he explained why he had “Black Lives Matter” painted in massive yellow letters on city streets, taking part in several of the painting processes.

Last month, de Blasio announced that the city would paint the BLM murals in each borough amid the massive protests in the Big Apple, and around the country, in response to the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“I think we have had a seismic moment in this country’s history,” de Blasio said Thursday as he compared the recent nationwide protests to the “civil rights movement of ’50s and ’60s in terms of its importance.”

“The original sin of the United States of America — slavery, and all of the effects over 400 years being brought out into the open in a new way and a chance for this country to get it right to address this problem to move forward and it’s summarized in the three words: Black Lives Matter,” he said.

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