Black Lives Matter Sign Ripped Apart Outside Wash Heights Church

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — A Black Lives Matter sign hanging outside a church in Washington Heights was vandalized and ripped apart Thursday night.

It is the second time this summer a Black Lives Matter sign placed on the gates of the Fort Washington Collegiate Church has been destroyed.

An Upper Manhattan resident captured a video of what appears to be a man Thursday night walking away with scraps of the Black Lives Matter sign in his hand. You can watch the video on the church's Facebook page.

The Fort Washington Collegiate Church is located at 729 W. 181st Street in Washington Heights and is one of the community's most well-attended places of worship.

The reverend of the church, Dr. Darmaris Whittaker, made it clear to Patch that while this type of hateful action would not deter the church's mission of spreading love, acts of vandalism could not go unchecked.

"These are very difficult times, but our love is stronger than hate and we will continue to be a church that stands for racial justice, that stands for LGBTQ rights, that stands for peace and love, that stands for love," Rev. Whittaker said. "These acts of violence will not deter us."

Rev. Whittaker held a news conference in front of the tattered sign Friday at 5 p.m., to talk about the situation and to make calls to action to respond to the vandalism.

The reverend spoke passionately, at one point speaking directly to whoever vandalized the sign,"I call you to love, it must be difficult and painful that your worth is predicated on the oppression and vilification of others, to the point of violence."

Rev. Whittaker was joined by the Fort Tryon Jewish Center Rabbi Guy Austrian, State Senator Robert Jackson, and local Assembly Member Al Taylor.

"We have to preach brotherhood and sisterhood," Jackson said during the news conference. "We have to help one another."

"That ugliness is not the sum total of this community," Taylor remarked during the news conference. "Leave the nonsense somewhere else because we don't do that here (Washington Heights)."

Earlier in the summer, members of the church taped up a Black Lives Matter sign that was vandalized, and also created a bigger sign that they pinned at a higher point of the church's wall hoping that nobody could get to it.

That Black Lives Matter sign still hangs untouched.

Rev. Whittaker was quick to say that another Black Lives Matter sign would be made to replace the one destroyed Thursday. Senator Jackson's office has already pledged to help remake the sign.

Washington Heights Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez told Patch, "The Black Lives Matter movement has served to increase our country's awareness and action on racial injustices still plaguing our communities of color. The actions of those who ripped the Black Lives Matter signs off the Fort Washington Collegiate Church must be seen as acts of hate. I will be working alongside the community and the local precincts to help find those responsible for yesterday's incident."

Police told Patch that there is no complaint report or 911 call for a Thursday incident at the church's location.