Atlantic City, N.J., Mayor Marty Small holds a news conference on the Atlantic City Boardwalk on June 11, 2020. Small will lead a ceremony on Friday, Sept. 4, 2020, in which the words "Black Lives Matter" will be painted on a street instead of on the Boardwalk, where a city activist had wanted to write the words. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
Racial Injustice-Atlantic City
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — An Atlantic City community activist who had planned to lead protesters Friday in painting “Black Lives Matter” on the seaside gambling resort’s historic Boardwalk says they no longer plan to do so. Instead, Steve Young said he will accept Mayor Marty Small’s invitation to participate in a city-sponsored event Friday afternoon where the words will be painted onto the pavement of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in front of the city’s Civil Rights Garden. Faced with the prospect of protesters defacing the Boardwalk, which Small said would be illegal, the mayor on Wednesday announced the city would hold its own event, hoping to co-opt the protest.
