Pacific Unitarian Church Proclaims Black Lives Matter Despite Repeated Vandalism

By Melina Paris, Editorial Assistant

This past September, the Pacific Unitarian Church, or PUC, in Rancho Palos Verdes announced the repeated vandalism of a Black Lives Matter banner displayed at the church.

An account of the vandalism, including a statement by PUC follows:

“Why We Proclaim Black Lives Matter

The deaths of Ahmaud Aubrey, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd in the spring of 2020 have caused a significant national moment of reckoning regarding race. Each of these deaths has become one more indication of a pattern of injustice towards our black brothers and sisters that has persisted long before cell phone cameras started capturing them.  

These killings and the public outcry around them have prompted our church to look at what has been a too-normal part of American life. While not part of any political organization, we join the many churches, businesses, private citizens, and institutions that have chosen to place Black Lives Matter signs on our property. 

These acts of conscience and free speech have not gone unchallenged. Often the critique has come in the form of the retort that “All Lives Matter.” Indeed, our church’s guiding principle — a belief in the inherent worth and dignity of all people — seems to suggest that seemingly inclusive refrain. Of course, technically, “All Lives Matter.” ALM is a statement so obvious as to be impossible to critique. However, your Minister and Board of Trustees believe that too often, for too long, and for too many individuals and institutions, Black Lives haven’t truly mattered much, if at all.

When we look at the the history of slavery, mass incarceration, Jim Crow laws, lynchings, redlining, voter suppression, and scores of injustices over the past 400 years, we feel that the message “Black Lives Matter” matters. If 2020 is nothing else, it is a poignant moment of reflection about our role in the past and our path moving forward. It is a unique chance to say that we are no longer going to accept the racism that has so long been a systemic part of what our country thinks of as normal.”  

In the wake of these deaths, a series of internal conversations at PUC led its members to reaffirm their values. As part of that reaffirmation PUC erected a Black Lives Matter banner. In an unfortunate series of events, the banner was vandalized and stolen numerous times.”  

“However,” PUC members wrote in a statement, “this will never deter us from affirming our commitment to fundamental human values and decency.”

A short history of the Black Lives Matter banner

On June 26, PUC’s first Black Lives Matter banner was displayed. Placed close to the street, parallel to the sidewalk on Montemalaga Drive, the banner was cut down from the rudimentary frame it hung in, but not taken. Three days later the same banner was rehung.

About 10 days later the same banner was again vandalized.  Specifically, the word “Black” was spray painted over.  It was fixed, the word “Black” replaced, and rehung.

On June 11, the banner was stolen and in the process, the frame holding the banner was damaged. After some deliberation about what the next steps should be, the board decided July 30, that it wouldn’t be dissuaded from exercising its conscience and the banner was rehung; this time it was placed under the eve of the building, well off the street in view of security cameras.

By August, concerned that few would see it, and that vandalism might damage the building, the banner was moved to the center of the parking lot facing the street. There it stayed, untouched in a new and improved frame for about a month.  PUC believes the banner remained untouched, as the report said, likely because a recreational vehicle was stationed in the church parking lot for most of that month.

By September the RV was gone and PUC’s second banner was stolen. Having extra banners on hand, it was immediately replaced. But on Sept. 3, the third banner was stolen. The looter, as it were, was caught carefully folding it up via security camera.  PUC raised its fourth banner Sept. 8, in the framework where it remains. Reports have been filed with the sheriff’s station.  

Other houses of worship on the Palos Verdes Peninsula have experienced similar events. PUC is publicizing these events to raise public awareness of the systemic vandalism, theft and intolerance in the community.

In a joint statement, Rev. Steve Wilson and board president Mellissa Tyrrell said:

“We at PUC will continue to hang Black Lives Matter banners because it is one small step in recognition of a legacy of injustice. From the official end of slavery in the 1860s, to the Civil Rights movement a century later, a tremendous amount of work still remains to be done.  However, our banner is also a statement that good things can, and will, come from these challenging times. The congregation of Pacific Unitarian Church dedicate ourselves to this purpose.”

Details: www.pacificunitarian.org/2020/07/01/black-lives-matter-resource-page