Black lives matter street mural damage ‘definitely done on purpose’
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KANSAS CITY, MO (KMBC) — A bright message that Black Lives Matter is tarnished in Kansas City, Missouri.
Someone dropped white paint, and somebody else burned rubber over the entire mural in the Northland. The painting at Northwest Briarcliff Parkway and North Mulberry is one of six unique murals that were painted Sept. 5on Kansas City streets, and nearby residents believe the damage was “definitely done on purpose.”
“It’s a clear statement, and it makes me very sad and upset,” Katie Kalahurka Burnett, who lives nearby, said.
Kansas City Council Member Eric Bunch is also upset that the mural – the only one in the Northland – was damaged.
“These murals stand for is the call to end racism,” Bunch said. “We’re a heck of a long way from there as can be evidenced by the jerk who decided to do burnouts in the middle of the mural and drop white paint on it.”
Kalahurka Burnett said it is important to bring light to the damage.
“I don’t know what the remedy of racism is,” Kalahurka Burnett said. “I do know that it’s important that when we see acts like this to bring them to light and to talk about them.”
Cameras at both ends of the street may have captured the moments the mural was defaced.
The Kansas City Police Department said it is not investigating this as a crime — both property damage, or a hate crime — because of the way the law is written. Police say the city owns the street, and the government can’t be the victim of a hate crime.
“I’m confident that the police department will come around, and we’ll get a different answer than the one we’ve gotten so far,” Bunch said.
Kalahurka Burnett said something must be done.
“If we just drive over this and don’t say anything, then hate wins,” she said.
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