NYC’s Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged that protesters who to painted gigantic “Black Lives Matter” murals on city streets didn’t go through the city’s normal application process for public art projects.
De Blasio and his wife actually helped paint one such mural on 5th Avenue directly in front of Trump Tower.
The admission came in the wake of the city’s refusals to let other groups paint similar murals. Those groups are now accusing the mayor of infringing on their First Amendment rights.
De Blasio told reporters he allowed BLM to paint murals while denying other groups the right to do so because “Black Lives Matter” represents a “seismic moment” in the nation’s history and transcends the message of any one group.
Backtracking slightly while attempting to address the apparent hypocrisy, De Blasio said that he hadn’t actually said “no to people”
“We’ve said, if you want to apply, you can apply, but there’s a process,” he said during a recent press conference.
He justified not requiring the Black Lives Matter movement to adhere to that same process by saying the BLM message “transcends all normal realities because we are in a moment of history where this had to be said and done.”
“That’s a decision I made,” he said. “But the normal process continues for anyone who wants to apply.”
A conservative women’s group, Women for America First, is suing De Blasio and Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg blocking their request to paint a mural with the message “Engaging, Inspiring and Empowering Women to Make a Difference!”
Trottenberg told reporters during the same press conference that anyone can apply for the public art program but added that the city has the discretion on deciding which projects get approved.