Photos credit: Isseu Diouf Campbell
The Harlem Black Lives Matter Mural, located on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd, between 125th and 127th Streets, was vandalized in the evening of July 18, 2020, by a group led by a Black woman named Bevelyn Beatty, who proudly posted the act on her YouTube and Facebook pages.
She is seen in the video with another Black female, Edmee Chavannes, and a white male, opening cans of paint and was heard saying: “Harlem world, we got to be quick, we got to be fast!” before moving the barricades protecting the mural.
A bystander who confronted the group, is heard in the video saying, “What is wrong with you?! You are a Black woman!” while the group in two cars were busy pouring black oil paint on the mural before driving off.
Nikoa Evans, the executive director of Harlem Park to Park, one of the organizations that helped create the mural, rushed to the mural that evening at around 11:30 p.m. after receiving a phone call from Erika Ewing, the CEO of the partner organization Got to Stop LLC.
Evans said it took a month of planning, more than 300 people involved and about $100,000 to create the mural that was vandalized in less than five minutes by a group who made it its business to disfigure all the Black Lives Matter Murals they can get to in the name of Jesus.
Evans, who was very upset at first, filed a complaint with the police and said the Harlem Black Lives Matter Mural will be repaired.
To donate, visit https://harlemparktopark.org/black-lives-matter-mural
