A Historic Moment

A man takes a picture in front of the White House.

It was a mecca for America’s racial justice movement, a place politicians called ‘a powerful work of art,’ and a symbol of resistance against the President of the United States. 

But on one mid-August day, Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington D.C. was void of the police in riot gear and throngs of protestors that had made it an icon of civil disobedience amid the George Floyd protests that swept the nation. As children played on the street and tourists stopped for pictures, it seemed like another picturesque D.C. attraction.

But for those who did pause to observe, it meant a bit more. 

A man looks at signage in support of BLM.

A woman sits in front of graffiti at BLM Plaza.

“This is historical,” Jules Tall, who stopped by the plaza to take pictures, told me with what I imagine was a grin behind his blue face mask. 

He was not the only person I met who was excited by the sprawling yellow phrase leading up to the White House. Todd Alan and Dennis Williams, who came from South Carolina to visit the District, posed for pictures in front of a sprawling ‘Black Lives Matter’ poster hanging from a building behind them. 

To Williams, it was a unifying symbol for a unifying cause. Gesturing to the ubiquitous signage around him, he spoke of the social unrest which swept the nation, but also with a hint of optimism.   

“Hopefully, we can all come together over this,” he said.

Jules Tall stands for a picture at BLM Plaza.