Pastor invites banner vandals to have civil conversation

A local pastor said he wants to sit down and have a civilized conversation with the person or people who vandalized a “Black Lives Matter” banner.

Someone spray-painted the banner to make it read, “Blue Lives Matter More.”

“We certainly wanted to show just where our church stands on this issue, but we certainly didn’t mean to offend anybody,” said Rev. David Herndon of the First Unitarian Church in Shadyside

The church has a new sign that will be much harder to damage. Herndon stressed that all lives matter, but he and his congregation support the Black Lives Matter movement, and what he really wants is a conversation. He said he had the support of his congregation when he decided to put the banner outside of the church last month.

“We've had a long history of trying to reform society and trying to make the world a better place,” Herndon said. “This is a movement -- the black lives movement -- that our denomination has endorsed and supported.”

The banner was vandalized Nov. 22, just a few days after it was displayed. The sign was actually a temporary one loaned by the sign contractor until the bigger banner came in. The new banner was hung up yesterday.

“We believe that all lives matter, including black lives, blue lives,” Herndon said.

Herndon has a family member in law enforcement, so he said this is more than just a social issue to him. But, he said, systemic racism against blacks must be addressed.

“All lives won’t matter until black lives matter,” he said, adding that vandalism is not the way to solve this problem. “We’d be happy to sit down and have a dialogue.”

He said the new banner will likely stay where it is for a long time to come. Herndon said he would even be willing to have lunch with the people who vandalized the banner to have a civil, respectful conversation to work out some kind of understanding.

Cox Media Group