Tulsa To Remove BLM Street Graffiti After Request To Paint Pro-Police Slogan In Street

Remember how Redwood, California decided to remove their BLM slogan after a request to paint a MAGA one? Now we get

A Black Lives Matter mural is set to be removed in Tulsa after the city received a request for a pro-police painting

Tulsa, Oklahoma city council set to remove Black Lives Matter street mural after failing to receive city permission.

The Black Lives Matter mural in Tulsa was painted in the Greenwood District, known as Black Wall Street, by local artists to commemorate Juneteenth, the anniversary of Texas freeing slaves in 1865. Black Lives Matter paintings have appeared in major cities across the country after the death of George Floyd.

According to Tulsa World, chairman of the Tulsa County Republican Party, Bob Jack, sent a request to the city councilor and mayor about the process to create a pro-police “Back the Blue” mural in solidarity of the city’s police department.

In a city council meeting on Wednesday, officials gathered to discuss granting license agreements to permit street paintings and the Black Lives Matter mural was on the agenda, according to Tulsa World.

The artist and organizer of the mural, Ryan Rhoades, along with volunteers didn’t receive approval from the city to execute the painting on the street.

So, they never received permission to paint it from the get go, yet the city did nothing about it?

Tulsa City attorney David O’Meilia said during the council meeting that “paintings for city streets are only allowed for safety reasons” and “allowing one group to paint messages on the street means everyone would be able to do so,” KJRH-TV reported.

According to CNN, during the meeting Councilor Connie Dodson referred to regulations from the Federal Highway Administration regarding street paintings, saying they should not be allowed “for safety reasons, federal guideline reasons and city liability reasons” and “that those First Amendment freedoms get expressed another way.”

It’s been up for around a month and a half, being painted on June 18th. But, now that there’s been an official request to put up the Back The Blue one, suddenly the city is going to remove the BLM one? Huh. Why don’t they want both? What would the city do if the BTB group simply went and painted it? According to CNN

During the council’s meeting on Wednesday, Senior Assistant City Attorney Mark Swiney argued such signs are not legal under the city’s laws.

“There really isn’t anything in our laws that makes a street into a canvas to convey a message or essentially make a sign out of a street surface,” Swiney said.

He suggested that if a group wanted to paint a message or a slogan, they should do so on private property.

So now they want this only on private property? Again, huh. Even the Washington Post noted the hypocrisy and Excuse-Making

Tulsa allowed a Black Lives Matter message to remain — until a pro-police group asked for its own street painting

Councilor Connie Dodson insisted that the decision was not tied to the Black Lives Matter message of the Greenwood Avenue mural — but rather said that if it was allowed to stand, other murals, like the pro-police message, would also have to be allowed.

“I applaud it,” she said in Wednesday’s meeting. “It’s great. But at the same point, it comes down to: Yes, if you allow one, then you have to allow all of them.”

One has to wonder what would have happened if a group started painting “Defund The Police” in the street. Would they have allowed it?