Portion of Moss Point Black Lives Matter mural painted over, altering message

MOSS POINT, Miss. (WLOX) - Someone has again painted over a portion of Moss Point’s Black Lives Matter mural in front of City Hall.

Mayor Mario King took to social media to announce the word “black” had been painted over and replace with the word “blue.” King also said the part of the symbol of solidarity was also painted over.

This is the second time the mural has been altered within just a few days. On Wednesday, Tommy Loper painted over the fist, comparing the raised black fist to the Confederate flag.

“All lives matter but (a) black power symbol is just like the stars and bars in the Confederate flag,” said Loper in a Facebook post. He added that the fist is “racist and not needed in Moss Point.”

By Wednesday evening, the fist had been repainted as part of the mural.

The black fist first became mainstreamed when it was used by the Black Panther Party, which was founded in the ’60s to challenge police brutality against the Black community. The fist was repeatedly used as a symbol of Black liberation.

Photos and video footage of the Black Panthers saluting each other with raised fists at conventions, meetings and rallies solidified the symbol as synonymous with the fight for Black civil rights.

The black fist once again became popular by the Black Lives Matter movement after it was formed in 2014 following the death of Michel Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Activists said that the fist was meant to represent the “hands up, don’t shoot” pose.

Ever since then, it’s been a symbol shared widely on social media and at rallies and protests, meant to emphasize resistance and defiance.

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