{"id":3389,"date":"2025-10-14T22:19:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T22:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/3389\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T22:19:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T22:19:21","slug":"makeshift-black-history-matters-mural-reappears-in-st-pete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/3389\/","title":{"rendered":"Makeshift Black History Matters mural reappears in St. Pete"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 While murals in Tampa and St. Petersburg have been erased, a new one appeared overnight.<\/p>\n<p>What You Need To Know<\/p>\n<p>The words &#8220;Black History Matters&#8221; appeard outside of Woodson African American Museum in St Pete\u00a0<br \/>\n<br \/>The makeshift mural showed up days after a mural that had been in place for years\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/baynews9.com\/fl\/tampa\/news\/2025\/08\/30\/2-men-arrested--accused-of-blocking-fdot-crews-from-painting-over-mural\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">was painted over last Friday<\/a><br \/>\n<br \/>No one knows who painted the words<\/p>\n<p>The words \u201cBlack History Matters\u201d now stretch across 9th Avenue, outside the Woodson African American Museum of Florida.<\/p>\n<p>Painted in large white letters on the roadway, the makeshift mural showed up days after a mural that had been in place for years\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/baynews9.com\/fl\/tampa\/news\/2025\/08\/30\/2-men-arrested--accused-of-blocking-fdot-crews-from-painting-over-mural\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">was painted over last Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cResistance is where we are in the current climate and those who are resisting. I find no fault with it,\u201d said Terry Lipsy Scott, executive director of the Woodson Museum.<\/p>\n<p>She said she has no idea who repainted the mural.<\/p>\n<p>Artist John Gascot also said he does not know who is responsible. Gascot helped paint the original \u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d mural in 2020, which was later <a href=\"https:\/\/baynews9.com\/fl\/tampa\/news\/2023\/06\/19\/new--black-history-matters--mural-unveiled-in-st--pete\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">replaced with a \u201cBlack History Matters\u201d mural in 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s awesome that somebody\u2014or somebodies\u2014came out in the middle of the night to send a message that we\u2019re not deterred, and we\u2019re not giving up,\u201d Gascot said. \u201cI\u2019m glad this mural is being fought for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gascot, who has worked as an artist for 20 years, said his art explores current times, celebrates culture, and encourages people to bring their own interpretations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo just witness how art can heal communities, bring people together, and help bridge differences\u2014that\u2019s powerful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>For him, the murals are more than decoration. He believes they affirm communities that have historically felt ignored or displaced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese murals give people a sense of belonging, and they give visitors a sense of safety and welcome,\u201d Gascot said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 While murals in Tampa and St. Petersburg have been erased, a new one appeared&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[4029,115,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,835],"class_list":["post-3389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-jeff-van-sant","tag-news","tag-pinellas-county","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}