Black Lives Matter Mural To Be Painted On Queens Street

JAMAICA, QUEENS — A Jamaica block is among five streets citywide that will be painted and renamed in honor of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The street mural will be on 153rd Street between Jamaica and Archer Avenues and be completed within the next three weeks, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday.

De Blasio announced plans for the murals earlier this month, as protesters took to the streets of New York City to demand justice for George Floyd and an end to police brutality and racism.

"We sat with activists, leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement, families who had lost loved ones to police violence, and one of the things that they said would help immediately to move the city forward was to acknowledge the power of the phrase Black lives matter, and make it a part of the life of the city," de Blasio said of how the idea for the murals and renamings came to fruition.

Volunteers painted a similar mural in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, over the weekend.

The mayor announced the locations of the city's upcoming street murals and renamings on Juneteenth, which commemorates the emancipation of Black Americans from slavery.

"I ask all New Yorkers to recognize the power of this moment, that the city of New York is saying loudly, clearly, consistently — Black lives matter," de Blasio said during a news briefing Friday. "And we will back up that belief with action, after action, after action, bring it to life and more and more ways in this city."