Towson Black Lives Matter Sign Taken For 7th Time: Report

TOWSON, MD — When the "Black Lives Matter" sign was taken from Towson Unitarian Universalist Church over the weekend, it was not the first time such an act had happened. Nor was it the second or the third.

The banner removed between Saturday night and Sunday morning marked the seventh time a "Black Lives Matter" banner has been taken since the church first installed it in October 2016, according to WBAL.

In the first five weeks after its appearance along Dulaney Valley Road last fall, Fox 45 reported the banner was vandalized five times, which Rev. Clare Petersberger said showed it carried "an important message."

Police surveillance around the sign was conducted in January and February but did not yield a suspect, Baltimore County police told the Towson Times, adding that clandestine investigative methods are underway after a combination of yard signs and banners were removed or defaced in recent months.

Why the vandalism and theft from a church that promotes an "intentionally inclusive" community?

The church is hosting a "community conversation" about why it has chosen to display the message "Black Lives Matter" on its signage and to invite a dialogue about the issue. The event will be from 1:45 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 12, at Towson Universalist Church, 1700 Dulaney Valley Road.

Rev. Petersberger posted this Oct. 8 on the church's website as the latest banner was put up, two weeks before it was said to have been stolen:

"In the winter of 2016, following courageous conversations with ourselves and each other about our experiences with white privilege and systemic racism, participants in a dialogue on racial justice turned to conversing with members and friends of TUUC about installing banners reading 'Black Lives Matter.' A year ago, this weekend, with the support of members of A Dialogue on Race and Ethnicity (ADORE) from First Church Baltimore we dedicated these banners. In the past year, these banners have been vandalized seven times: torn, defaced, or simply removed. The repeated installation of our banners followed by acts of vandalism against them is a kind of dialogue -- though not a particularly productive one. Today, we rededicate ourselves to the message of the banners and the courageous conversations we need to have with ourselves and the wider community in order to share our congregation's vision for racial justice in America. "

Still from WBAL YouTube video.