Fox Valley Church To Rededicate Stolen Black Lives Matter Sign

An Appleton church is planning a public ceremony to replace a stolen Black Lives Matter sign Friday evening.

The big black and yellow banner in front of the Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship was stolen for the second time over the weekend, according to Interim Minister Kathleen Rolenz. The latest theft followed the police shootings in Dallas.

“This will be the third sign now that we have had to hang, the first one vandalized, stolen, the second one also was stolen,” she said.

The Black Lives Matter movement isn’t anti-police, but rather an effort to fix a broken criminal justice system, Rolenz said.

“The criminal justice system has not served African-Americans well and it needs reform,” she said. “Racism did not disappear with the civil rights movement, and this is, I believe, the civil rights movement of the 21st century.”

The Unitarian minister said she was “heartbroken” by the Dallas shootings. Church leaders have scheduled the rededication ceremony in Appleton for rush hour Friday evening in hopes of creating what they call “a peaceful but powerful presence.”