Two people were caught on camera painting over a “Black Lives Matter” mural in Martinez, California.
Over the weekend footage of the incident began circulating on social media. The video captured a white woman wearing a red shirt as she poured black paint over the letters.
She was accompanied by a white man wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat and a red shirt in support of President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.
When confronted about their actions, the unidentified man told the group of onlookers, “No one wants Black Lives Matter here.”
He also dismissed the “narrative” of police brutality and racism in America, deeming it “a lie.”
“We’re sick of this narrative,” he said. “The narrative of police brutality, the narrative of oppression, the narrative of racism. It’s a lie. It’s a lie.”
See the footage below:
Amid protests and heightened calls for police reform and racial equality, “Black Lives Matter” murals have been painted in cities, nationwide.
The Martinez Police Department is conducting an investigation into the defacing of the city’s mural.
On Sunday, Martinez Police Chief Manjit Sappal released a statement about the incident and criticized the people who defaced the mural “in a hateful and senseless manner.”
“The community spent a considerable amount of time putting the mural together only to have it painted over in a hateful and senseless manner,” Martinez Police Chief Manjit Sappal said in a statement, adding, “The city of Martinez values tolerance, and the damage to the mural was divisive and hurtful.”
Despite the man’s claim about the “narrative” of racism being a “lie,” statistics on police brutality and racism–including systemic racism–have been widely proven otherwise.