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Vandalized “Black Lives Matter” Mural in Martinez Restored

City-approved street mural was defaced and then restored. Vandals charged with hate crime.
By - posted 7/7/2020 No Comment

Thanks to KRON4 for letting us know that the Black Lives Matter mural in Martinez that was vandalized on camera on July 4th has been restored.

The “public art project” Black Lives Matter Street Mural was organized by the local group Martizians with permission from the City of Martinez’s Recreation was patterned after similar paintings in many cities across the US, including Oakland and San Jose. More than a hundred people, all wearing masks, helped paint the words over a five-hour period Saturday. 

Update: CBS5 reports that a man and woman caught on camera vandalizing the mural have been charged with a hate crime. In a separate incident, ABC7 reports that a driver who pulled a gun on a crowd at the mural has been arrested.


Once the mural was finished, an unidentified white man and woman arrived and began painting over the mural with black paint as they made comments to onlookers denigrating the Black Lives Matter movement and saying that “this is not happening in my town.”

The incident was captured in a video posted on YouTube.

The police were notified but by the time they arrived the suspects were gone. The mural was restored soon after.