Harlem Black Lives Matter Mural Vandalized In 'Drive By Painting'

HARLEM, NY — A Black Lives Matter mural in Harlem was vandalized by a woman who is suspected of defacing murals honoring the movement near Trump Tower and in Brooklyn, the Harlem nonprofit that funded the mural said.

Vandals dumped several cans paint from the back of a van — a "drive by painting" — on the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard mural just before midnight Saturday. The group of vandals decked out in shirts that read "Jesus matters" streamed the act on YouTube.

The YouTube account that streamed the vandalism belongs to a woman named Bevelyn Beatty.

Neighborhood nonprofit Harlem Park to Park funded the creation of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard mural and worked with local artists and youth groups to paint the artwork.

"We were certainly aware of the attacks on the murals as a new trend. But we felt sure no one would come to Harlem to purposely do this. We know where our hearts were in creating this mural for Harlem and we also know how much love and support it received. This was not a political statement as much as it was an embrace of a community that we as black women felt really needed it," Nikoa Evans Hendricks, executive director of Harlem Park to Park, said in a statement.

At least seven Black Lives Matter murals — six funded by the city — have been installed throughout the five boroughs since daily protests began in the city following the killing of Minneapolis man George Floyd. Floyd died after a police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes during an arrest for a suspected minor crime.

A mural in front of Trump Tower has been vandalized several times and has become a flash point for conflict between protesters and supporters of President Donald Trump.