Nationwide — A couple from California has been charged with a hate crime after they were caught on video on July 4th defacing a Black Lives Matter mural in the city of Martinez. 42-year old Nicole Anderson and 53-year old David Nelson were seen painting over the word “Black,” which had been painted in yellow, with black paint.
“We’re sick of this narrative, that’s what’s wrong,” David said in the video, according to ABC News. “The narrative of police brutality, the narrative of oppression, the narrative of racism, it’s a lie.”
Some bystanders can be heard in the background of the video telling them to stop, saying that what they’re doing is racist. At one point, Nicole even paused what she was doing and said murals like that should only be done in New York, adding, “This is not happening in my town.”
For about five minutes, David yelled “All lives matter,” to which one of the bystanders responded, “Until Black lives matter, no lives matter.”
The two were gone when the police arrived at the scene. They only found a witness who took a picture of the suspects’ car, which was described as a Nissan pickup truck with the word “NICOLE” painted in silver.
An investigation led to their arrest and the charges.
“The community spent a considerable amount of time putting the mural together only to have it painted over in a hateful and senseless manner,” Chief Manjit Sappal of the Martinez Police Department said in a statement. “The City of Martinez values tolerance and the damage to the mural was divisive and hurtful.”