{"id":5395,"date":"2025-10-15T19:50:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T19:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/5395\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T19:50:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T19:50:15","slug":"austins-black-artists-matter-rainbow-crosswalk-may-be-removed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/5395\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin’s ‘Black Artists Matter’, Rainbow Crosswalk May Be Removed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe \u201cBlack Artists Matter\u201d street mural and a rainbow crosswalk in Austin, Texas, may be removed after governor Greg Abbott moved to enforce a larger directive from President Donald Trump<\/a> to get rid of political and artistic road murals across the country.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a July 1\u00a0letter<\/a>, transportation secretary Sean P. Duffy gave states 60 days to study crosswalks at intersections and develop a list of \u201ccompliance concerns\u201d in their states, as part of his \u201cSafe Roads\u201d nationwide roadway initiative.<\/p>\n

\n\tPer the US transportation department, \u201cintersections and crosswalks need to be kept free from distractions. This includes political messages of any nature, artwork, or anything else that detracts from the core mission of driver and pedestrian safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Articles<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"NEW<\/p>\n

\n\tIn response<\/a>, on October 8, Texas governor Abbott directed the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to \u201cremove any and all political ideologies\u201d from the state\u2019s streets in keeping with the July 1 federal directive. <\/p>\n

\n\tAbbott added, \u201cAny city that refuses to comply with the federal road standards will face consequences including the withholding or denial of state and federal road funding and suspension of agreements with TxDOT.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe city is planning to comply, having identified about 16 locations that could be impacted, according to a post made by the city\u2019s mayor Kirk Watson in the Austin City Council members\u2019 public online message board<\/a>.\u00a0While the city outweighs the cost-benefit of having to cover over such displays, the mayor noted the $175 million in state and federal grant funding received by Austin Transportation and Public Works, along with additional upcoming grant opportunities that could be lost if the city doesn\u2019t comply.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWith all the needs we have in this state, it\u2019s disappointing and a waste of time to be talking about this,\u201d Watson wrote. \u201cAustin will comply with state law and we\u2019ll demonstrate our love for all Austinites in other ways. We have a lot of pride. We\u2019ll live it and we\u2019ll show it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe mayor also outlines a plan for similar displays on city-owned property that, instead, would not violate state or federal requirements such as banners, painting of sidewalks, and permanent fixtures on city-owned sidewalks and utility poles \u201cto represent our diverse community, show our love and pride, and allow Austinites to participate in expression.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u201cBlack Artists Matter\u201d mural<\/a> in question is situated in Austin\u2019s historically Black, East side neighborhood and was painted by local Black artists in collaboration with the Austin Justice Coalition and nonprofit Capitol View Arts in June 2020. That year was a time of reckoning<\/a>, following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis that partly sparked the Black Lives Matter<\/a> movement (BLM).<\/p>\n

\n\tIn light of federal directives<\/a> aimed at diminishing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, there have been a number of cities and institutions impacted<\/a> nationwide. In Washington, DC, for example, construction crews began dismantling a\u00a0BLM mural<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u201cBlack Artists Matter\u201d street mural and a rainbow crosswalk in Austin, Texas, may be removed after governor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,5586,5587,1153],"class_list":["post-5395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-black-lives-matter","tag-diversity-equity-inclusion-initiatives","tag-trump-administration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}