KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Six Black Lives Matter murals were painted with private donations on roads all across Kansas City the first weekend of September.
Nearly a week after, tire tracks were foundon the mural on Briarcliff Parkway and North Mulberry Drive.
Lead artist Harold Smith told 41 Action News he wasn't surprised it happened.
"The day we were working on the mural, we had a number of people drive by and yell profanities at us," Smith said.
On Saturday, several community members, as well as the artists from the other BLM murals, came together to help fix the mural.
They didn't want to erase the tire tracks.
"We’ve painted around them symbols of love, symbols of the community, symbols of peace around the tracks," Smith said.
"African American community — we live with marks every day, we live with hatred everyday, so this is just a reflection of what our country is facing," artist Adrianne Clayton said.
Many people who worked on the mural brought their family, like Jesse Miller.
"I consider myself a patriot," Miller said. "I consider myself a citizen, and those are active descriptions. They are not passive, and I am raising my children to be citizens, to be patriots, and that means making some small sacrifice for the betterment of our community."
In the event more tire marks show up on this mural, Smith said he would leave it.
"Leave it as a reminder of why the Black Lives Matter movement is necessary," Smith said.
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