'They can take it down, but they can't stop us' BLM memorial removed without a trace

ASHLAND, Ore. — A local group said its Black Lives Matter memorial was taken down Friday night, without a trace of who removed the t-shirts which lined up on the fence near Railroad Park in Ashland.

The memorial was composed of t-shirts that contained a name on each one, the group said each name represented a Black person that was murdered in a senseless killing.

“When we came by this morning, we saw someone had completely removed every shirt and every banner from the fence,” Joanne Feinberg, one of the artists who created “Say Their Names” memorial said. “We walked behind the fence, hoping maybe they left the shirts for us, so we could respectfully do something for them.”

Feinberg said the group had planned a community gathering for September 13th to remove the shirts from the fence.

“We have been planning a community event, we were going to ask people who came and removed the shirts, at the same time to commit to taking action against systemic racism,” Feinberg said.

She said the purpose of the memorial was a call to action, and the event was to further its purpose. She also expressed how the memorial had become apart of the Ashland community.

“As we were walking along the fence this morning, bikers were riding by us and asking us where the shirts were. It has been become a really loved part of the community over the last two months,” she said.

Feinberg said the group is devastated over the incident, but it will not stop them from standing up for what they believe in.

“We cried, a number of us gathered and called the rest of the team, we cried and felt devastated and angry, and lots of lots of emotions but not deterred by any means from our goal of creating awareness of systemic racism,” she said emotionally. “They can take it down, but they can’t stop us.”