A federal lawsuit is challenging Cincinnati’s decision to allow a Black Lives Matter street mural, with the plaintiff arguing other viewpoints deserve the same opportunity to paint city streets.
Chris Langdon filed the lawsuit in federal court just days before the Black Lives Matter mural was refurbished for the BLINK festival. The mural was painted on Plum Street in 2020.
Langdon lives in Winter Park, Florida. He said the First Amendment gives him the same right to express his views on Cincinnati streets as anyone else.
“I think the First Amendment is important. one group to use the city streets, you have to allow all groups to use it, all points of view,” Langdon said.
What Langdon wants to paint
Langdon said he wants to paint a mural on a Cincinnati city street using religious figures standing arm in arm with the caption “Peace & Religious Tolerance.” He wants it to include Jesus, Buddha, the Prophet Muhammad and Moses.
“I put in my lawsuit things like all lives matter, brown lives matter, yellow lives matter. I don’t think you can just make a statement just for one race,” Langdon said.
Fox19 legal analyst Mark Krumbein said the lawsuit is not a novel concept.
“It’s an interesting lawsuit and its a concept that has come up before and basically an individual is saying he wants to do the same thing that someone else is done and in this case, Black Lives Matter has painted murals on the sidewalk, different symbols, so he wants to do that himself,” Krumbein said.
Krumbein compared the issue to past disputes over religious displays.
“The same issues applies like when they have a Christmas tree on Fountain Square and you know like well, can I have my, this religious, that religion and can I do this?” Krumbein said.
Lawsuit seeks damages
Langdon’s lawsuit also includes $10,000 in damages from the mayor and $10,000 from the city.
Mayor Aftab Pureval released a statement to FOX19 saying: “This looks to me like a frivolous lawsuit filed by someone offended by racial inclusion. I’m not sorry for supporting the Black Lives Matter mural. It is a beautiful representation of our City’s speech and values. It’s not going anywhere.”
Langdon said he has sued other cities over the same issue.
“So anybody has the right to paint the streets and anybody else in America has a right to come and paint. You have the same right to paint the city streets. It doesn’t matter if you’re a resident of Cincinnati or not,” Langdon said.
Langdon said if the city doesn’t settle his lawsuit, he hopes it makes its way all the way up to the Supreme Court.
The Black Lives Matter mural was privately funded when it was painted in 2020. In 2021, City Council approved an ordinance transferring and appropriating $125,000 from city funds to restore it.
