Black lives matter murals

I almost forgot that I created a tag for details that the media omits from articles. Among the more noteworthy of recent omissions relates to black lives matter murals painted on streets. Several reports have come from multiple cities about these murals being vandalized. It's rare that they provide information on such things as the legality of the mural in the first place.

There are three primary scenarios for these murals. The best case is that the government provides permission for a mural but is otherwise uninvolved. We know that New York and DC had approval, but we have had no clarification if the government was involved beyond the approval.

Even this scenario raises questions about government actions. The people who initially pushed the phrase have created a controversial organization. The organization has Marxist roots and promotes a divisive approach to race relations. If a government agency specifically approves this message (as opposed to the idea that they will allow citizens to paint words regardless of the message), this could be viewed as the government unethically promoting a questionable organization.

If there is no permission granted, then the murals are vandalism to begin with. It's painting over government-owned property without permission. In these cases, we should not be making such a big deal about vandalizing vandalism.

The worst of these scenarios is if a government agency was in any way involved beyond approval. If the government supplies paint, they have to buy that paint with taxpayer funds. These funds should not be used as a means of pushing a political agenda.  If government workers are responsible for painting it, we are forcing taxpayers to pay wages for painting a controversial political message.

Each time a black lives matter mural is vandalized, there is other wrongdoing conveniently ignored by the media. The mural itself could be vandalism. More likely, the local government has crossed an unethical if not illegal line. It's difficult to know who has been crossing lines because the media refuses to tell us.