Black Lives Matter Mural Painted By Evanston Township H.S. Boys' Basketball Team Splattered With Paint; They Believe It Was Defaced
EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS) -- On Friday, the Evanston Township High School boys' basketball team painted a massive message of Black Lives Matter in yellow on the street outside their school.
On Saturday, the team found streaks of white paint splattered across two of the letters.
The paint was still there on Dodge Avenue on Sunday. The white streaks on the letters C and K in the word "Black" remained visible.
The boys' basketball coach tells CBS 2 he believes someone defaced the message. A neighbor told him they heard commotion around midnight Saturday morning.
The team spent 13 hours painting the mural that got city approval.
"Waking up to see that on the internet, very disappointed and very saddened," said ETHS boys' basketball player Daeshawn Hemphill.
"I was surprised," said ETHS boys' basketball player Blake Peters. This community is really progressive. A lot of people here pride themselves on being socially conscience."
"I can tell you right now, I've heard nothing but anger and resentment from our community for whomever is living in our city with those types of behaviors and how they feel about Black Lives Matter," said coach Mike Ellis.
Evanston Ald. Peter Braithwaite (2nd) has called for more discussion surrounding issues of race in the city.