A man and a woman who defaced a Black Lives Matter mural in California in a video that surfaced this Saturday, with the woman taking a paint roller and covering up the giant yellow letters with black paint while the man recorded the act and berated onlookers, are now facing hate crime charges, the Contra Costa District Attorney announced this Tuesday.
Nicole Anderson, 42, and David Nelson, 53, were charged with “three misdemeanor counts, including a hate crime.”
“We must address the root and byproduct of systemic racism in our country. The Black Lives Matter movement is an important civil rights cause that deserves all of our attention,” Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton said in a statement.
The incident took place on the street in front of the Contra Costa County courthouse in Martinez, California. Anderson and Nelson have been charged with two counts of vandalism and a charge of “violation of civil rights.” They both a face a year in county jail if convicted.
The mural they defaced was sanctioned by the city.
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