A massive ‘Black Lives Matter’ billboard has just been installed next to a long standing confederate flag in North Carolina.
The 8-by-24-foot sign was installed on U.S. 64 East Business Route in Pittsboro, NC after over $10,000 was raised on a GoFundMe called ‘BLACK LIVES MATTER Pittsboro NC Billboard‘.
The campaign reads:
“There is a billboard (8′ x 24′) on US 64 East Business Route that you see driving into town, that is a center read and perched directly next to a confederate flag. In fact, there are *several* confederate flags on that stretch of road leading into town.
Approximately 20,000+ people a week see that billboard, which means that same amount of people are also being inundated with confederate flags as they drive into town.
Those confederate flags do NOT represent who we are as a community. It is important for us now more than ever as a community to show our support for #BLACKLIVESMATTER, with that message on a billboard that is counter to the confederate flags next to it.
The billboard only costs $450 per 28 days, plus a $350 one-time production charge for the cost of the vinyl the ad is printed on.”
The sign was finally put up on Monday, July 13th, and is currently paid for through the end of 2020.
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The campaign even raised enough money to pay for the billboard through the first half of 2021. They are now waiting on the contract and invoice from Lamar to lock the additional time in.
With the money left over, the GoFundMe campaign organizer donated $1,000 to Chatham Organizing for Racial Equity (CORE), and $1,000 to Emancipate NC.
The Charlotte region also has a similar situation on Wilkinson Blvd. in Gaston County.
For years now, a giant Confederate Flag has flown on private land, just west of the Aldi in Belmont, and there just so happens to be a giant billboard next to it.
Do you think Charlotte should organize a similar fundraiser to put ‘Black Lives Matter’ on the billboard?