TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — A Kansas church, labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group, now wants its own messages on Tulsa streets because of the Black Lives Matter mural on Greenwood.
Westboro Baptist Church says it's emailed Mayor G.T. Bynum asking for the street space near all hospitals that treat COVID-19 patients.
"God has sent the coronavirus in fury," the church said in the email.
In fact, that's one of several messages it wants to be written on the streets along with "Fear God" and "Repent or Perish," but local BLM supporters say the "Black Lives Matter" message belongs in the historic Greenwood District where the Race Massacre of 1921 happened.
Other murals, they say, may not belong on city streets at all.
"What will it benefit?" Rev. Mareo Johnson with the Tulsa chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement said. "We can't put up things that influence, promote hate and violence."
Johnson says community leaders are trying to find a legal way to keep the BLM mural on Greenwood.
https://ktul.com/news/local/westboro-baptist-church-asks-for-tulsa-street-space-for-mural
Westboro Baptist Church says it's emailed Mayor G.T. Bynum asking for the street space near all hospitals that treat COVID-19 patients.
"God has sent the coronavirus in fury," the church said in the email.
In fact, that's one of several messages it wants to be written on the streets along with "Fear God" and "Repent or Perish," but local BLM supporters say the "Black Lives Matter" message belongs in the historic Greenwood District where the Race Massacre of 1921 happened.
Other murals, they say, may not belong on city streets at all.
"What will it benefit?" Rev. Mareo Johnson with the Tulsa chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement said. "We can't put up things that influence, promote hate and violence."
Johnson says community leaders are trying to find a legal way to keep the BLM mural on Greenwood.
https://ktul.com/news/local/westboro-baptist-church-asks-for-tulsa-street-space-for-mural
