The wayside pulpit at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Concord supporting the “Black Lives Matter” movement was vandalized some time late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
The word “BLUE” was spray painted on the pulpit, a permanent sign in front of the Pleasant Street church, covering the words “Black Lives Matter,” which has become a rallying cry for protests against police brutality across the country in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minnesota. The Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013 in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin in Florida.
“Blue Lives Matter” is a counter movement started after the murders of two New York City police officers and is seen as a pro-police countermovement to Black Lives Matter.
There was a pro-police rally in Concord on Saturday at the New Hampshire Statehouse. Asked if it had received reports of any vandalism similar to what happened at the Unitarian Church, the Concord Police Department declined to comment.
“There is an irony that someone, presumably expressing support for ‘law and order,’ has decided to do so by breaking the law and vandalizing a church,” the Rev. Michael Leucthenberger, the senior minister at Concord’s Unitarian Church said in an email to the Monitor.