“Whose Fence? Our Fence!”: Trump's New White House Barrier Transformed Into Black Lives Matter Memorial
June 8th 2020
Protest at The White House (Ted Eytan)
By Jon Queally
As peaceful protests continued to flower and grow in U.S. cities and around the world over the weekend, a newly-erected security fence established around the White House in Washington, D.C. became what one reporter described as a "crowd-sourced memorial wall"—adorned with hand-made signs, posters, and other tributes—that offered a poignant rebuke to the president's "law and order" response to the demonstrations that erupted following the murder of George Floyd last month.
Since the new security barrier was established late last week, it has been adorned with countless protest signs calling for justice, declaring "Black Lives Matter" and "I can't breathe," and naming many other victims killed violently by law enforcement in recent years.
Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson on Sunday posted a video of the scene which has since attracted more than 5 million views on social media:
Speaking with DCist.com, Kai Gamanya, a surgical technician who participated in protests in the nation's capitol over the weekend, talked about hanging a painting he made on the fence and how uplifting it was overall to see the people transform the physical barrier into a symbol of protest and a tribute to lives lost and the justice now being demanded.
"It's like the whole nation is crying, and this whole fence is crying," said Gamanya. "And if you were to back up and see it from beginning to end, it's nothing but posters from all the way down."
While Trump built a large portion of his political brand and 2016 president campaign on his desire to "build the wall" along the entire U.S. southern border, the irony was not lost on those who witnessed the nearly 1.7 miles of new fence put up to surround the White House last week.
But the manner in which demonstrators and visitors transformed the structure for division and separation into a symbol of revolt and passionate expression gave many observers a feeling of hope and pride: