The owner of a 75-foot 'Black Lives Matter' fence is fighting a Minnesota city to keep it up until after Chauvin's trial
- A Minnesota city is giving the owner of a "Black Lives Matter" mural until Thursday to take it down.
- The 75-foot mural in West St. Paul depicts activist Kimetha Johnson, The New York Times reported.
- Officials said the mural violated city ordinances that deal with fences and prohibited signs.
A Minneapolis city is giving the owner of a 75-foot Black Lives Matter mural until Thursday to remove it or face fines, The New York Times reported.
The mural, on a fence by a busy intersection in West St. Paul, depicts Kimetha Johnson, an activist who last year became the first Black mayoral candidate for the city.
"I am totally saddened," Johnson told the Times. "It's an awesome piece of art. The message is needed here."
The Star Tribune reported that the city's spokesperson said since September they've received 20 complaints about the mural, which was commissioned by Ryan Weyandt, a founder of LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance, for the fence around his home.
The city said it's not the content of the mural that's the problem but that it violates two sections of the city code on fences and prohibited signs. The codes say fences have to be just one color and have no pictures or lettering on them.
"While the city understands the message on this particular fence is very important to the homeowner and many members of our community," spokesman Dan Nowicki said, "the city cannot and does not take content or message into account when dealing with infractions of city code."
Weyandt said he was told by officials that his fence was violating city ordinances in November.
Weyandt and the city agreed in November that he could keep the mural up until April 15, but he told the Times he'd like to keep the mural up until after former officer Derek Chauvin's trial is over.
"We don't want to take it down before the trial is over," he told the Times. "We want that message to stay."
Chauvin, an ex-Minneapolis cop who is on trial for second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter charges. He was fired from the department last summer after a video showed him placing his knee on the neck of George Floyd for several minutes despite Floyd repeatedly saying he was unable to breathe.
The city says if the mural stays up past Thursday, Weyandt could be fined $2,000 for every 10 days it remains.
Johnson told the Tribune that her 7-year-old granddaughter loves the mural and they drive by the fence once a week.
"It's so important in this day and time … with what's going on in Minneapolis," she said. "That message is needed."
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