The 1990s and 2000s had been disappointingly stagnant years in the push for racial equality, Daniel Pease thought. He was worried for the future of his mixed-race son, just 4 years old.

“I realize the clock is ticking. We’re running out of time and I don’t want my child growing up the same way we did,” Pease told the Daily Journal of San Mateo, Calif.

After seeing photos of street art in Washington, D.C., Boston and New York City, Pease asked Redwood City for permission to paint his own Black Lives Matter sign across the pavement near Courthouse Square on the Fourth of July. City officials quickly agreed, and the city even provided him a bucket of yellow paint.

Little did Pease know that city crews would power-wash the 17-foot artwork away during the dead of night two weeks later, leaving only bare, faded asphalt.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.