Facebook The "Back the Blue" mural is the first of its kind in the U.S., according to organizers.
A new Florida mural is the first of its kind in the country, backing the Blue Lives Matter movement — but it did not have a permit, the Tampa Bay Times suggests.
The public art project originated over the weekend outside the Tampa Police Department headquarters, the newspaper reported. Organizers worked for weeks leading up to the inception of the “Back the Blue” mural to obtain the city’s approval.
Tampa Bay Times indicated that they did not receive it before they began working.
“They’re being defunded and things that they need and require to do their job are not going to be provided anymore,” organizer Kristen Krutz told the newspaper. “Obviously, that would make anybody feel unappreciated, unwanted, and that’s the opposite of what we wanted them to see with the mural on the street.”
The 36-year-old is a member of the online community, Back the Blue Florida, which boasts more than 5,000 members, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
On Saturday, a crowd of roughly 40 painted the mural, which spans the block and features black, white and blue colors.
Because organizers did not have a permit, Krutz told the Times that they used orange cones, as well as their personal cars, to block off the road while they worked.
“The reason why we decided to proceed without a permit is because Black Lives Matter has murals all over the city that say Black Lives Matter, and they were not permitted,” Krutz said to the newspaper.
City of Tampa spokesperson Ashley Bauman told the Tampa Bay Times that the Back the Blue mural was in the process of approval. She also noted that the BLM murals had been approved as part of the city’s Art on the Block Day.
Mayor Jane Castor said in a Monday statement to the Times that the city welcomes any tribute honoring law enforcement.
The mayor, who had previously served as Tampa police chief, has emphasized in the past that she is not on-board with defunding the police, the Tampa Bay Times said.
Heavy has reached out to the City of Tampa, as well as Krutz, and is awaiting their responses.
Here’s what you need to know:
Many on Social Media Have Criticized the Mural as Ugly
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Many have taken to Twitter to mock the mural. While some have insulted it for being hard to read, others have suggested “accidentally” spilling paint over it.
One user begged the question if organizers had been tear-gassed, alluding to the BLM protesters across the country who have faced police brutality during demonstrations.
This mural was painted without a permit after 40+ people blocked a public road with cones and personal vehicles.
I’m sure you can guess how many of them were tear-gassed, thrown to ground, and arrested.
Creative Loafing wrote an article with the headline: “Everyone’s roasting Tampa’s hilariously bad ‘Bock The Blub’ street mural.”
Krutz’s husband designed the Back the Blue mural, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The organizer explained that she would not be surprised if the piece gets vandalized.
“Anyone who would do this shows disdain for First Amendment rights, she said,” the newspaper wrote.
A GoFundMe Was Created to Help Back the Mural
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The fundraiser was organized July 21 by a woman named Cassandra Alyssa Kistler, according to the website. It set out to raise $1,500 for supplies needed to create the mural.
The page reads:
As of today, over 30 police officers have been killed in the line of duty by firearms this year alone. On behalf of an online community “Back The Blue Florida” we would like to raise awareness regarding preventable murders of those who swore an oath to serve and protect their communities, and honor the lives and memory of public servants whose heroic lives ended to soon. We would also like to recognize the commitment and sacrifice our current law enforcement officers make every day. In today’s climate, they still wake up every day and honorably protect our cities and serve their communities. Their badges come off at the end of the day but their jobs stay with them at all time. It’s who they are. A police officer is never truly off duty and that is something more people need to be aware of.
The fundraiser also claims that the organizers obtained permission from the city to go forward.
It raised a little over $1,000. Any leftovers are going toward “other murals and #BackTheBlue events,” according to the site.
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