DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — A group of community members spent their morning cleaning up a message that once said “Black Lives Don’t Matter and Neither Does Your Votes.”
UPDATE: Durham couple hopes to create mural on wall where ‘Black lives don’t matter’ was spray painted
The message was written sometime Wednesday near Main and Fayetteville streets.
A similar message with the words “Wake Up!” at the end was written on another wall a quarter of a mile away on Fayetteville Street.
RELATED: Downtown Durham graffiti takes aim at black voters
Late yesterday someone came by with more paint and covered the “n” and “t” in “Don’t” so it said “Black Lives Do Matter.”
That wasn’t good enough for David, a young a Durham man who didn’t want anyone to see the message.
“You want to have a good day. You want to have good moments. But it’s really hard to do that when the area you’re in has stuff like this. I mean, its only intention is to be bothersome. It’s not to uplift, and it’s not to make something better, and that’s what we need right now,” said Young.
JC’s Kitchen is next to a tagged wall.
Phyllis Terry’s family has owned the restaurant for 25 years.
“JC” in the restaurant’s name stands for “Jesus Christ” and she says her business is not just about good food, but about being good to the community.
This is not the message she wants to next to her business.
She said she was “amazed” by the community response Thursday morning.
“I am amazed. I am really touched this morning to that the community has rallied together,” she said.
Now that the words are gone from the wall, the community that was out at the site Thursday said there’s a new message of peace and unity.
23 thoughts on “Durham community cleans up ‘Black Lives Don’t Matter’ graffiti”