Pastors Ben Atherton-Zeman and Andy Oliver protested the state of Florida’s attempts to erase a “Black History Matters” asphalt mural outside the Woodson African American Museum in St. Petersburg. Florida governor Ron DeSantis had ordered a crew to remove the mural as “non-standard road art.” The two pastors knelt on the asphalt and prayed. When police ordered them to leave, the pastors refused. They were arrested for obstructing state workers and kept overnight at Pinnelas County jail; the following day they posted bond.

“For me, living out my faith, resisting tyranny and fascism and white supremacy was the most important thing last night,” Andy Oliver said.

“I think it’s just erasure plain and simple,” Ben Atheron-Zeman said. “I live in a state where we ban books that teach accurate Black history, where we punish teachers who teach accurate Black history.”

Ben is the pastor at the Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg, Florida. The church’s webpage opens with the quotation: “May we keep our hearts open to the positive efforts of so many people causing good trouble in the world.”

Andy Oliver and his congregation at the Allendale United Methodist Church posted their own version of Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch titled “The Parable of the Governor Who Tried to Steal Joy.” It opens with these lines: “The Governor frowned at the murals in town, ‘Too bright! Too rainbow! They must be shut down!’”