GoFundMe raising money for ‘bigger better’ George Floyd mural after collapse

A GoFundMe account created by the artist of the collapsed George Floyd mural is raising money to create “a bigger better” memorial in Toledo.

“The previous George Floyd Mural was supposedly struck by lightning, we want to create a bigger better mural,” a description of the account, created by David Ross, says.

It raised $775 in its first 12 hours. A new location has not yet been selected.

Mr. Ross pledged to rebuild the mural after it crumbled on Tuesday after officials said it was either struck by lightning or collapsed from old age. It serves “as a reminder of the unity and fight” that brought the community and world together last summer after Mr. Floyd was killed by then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

“Let us never forget what was lost and gained,” he said.

Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz indicated he also wants to rebuild the memorial in collaboration with the Toledo arts council, “so that the message at the core of this artwork can be heard,” he told the USA Today Network.

The fall of the mural drew national attention this week.

Some called for the mural to be resurrected in a new location, and Toledoan Larry Johnson said it meant so much to him that he made a point to grab two painted bricks from the pile of rubble to remember the image and what it stood for.

Thousands of commenters on The Blade’s Twitter post, however, mocked the collapse of the mural, calling it an act of God.

Most recently, Donald Trump, Jr., weighed in in an Instagram post, calling Mr. Floyd’s death a “disastrous situation” to be learned from but not martyrize.

“I mean you have to wonder if someone, like a higher power, is telling us something here?!?” he wrote. “Obviously what happened to George Floyd should never happen anywhere!!! That said, objectively speaking, given his history I’m not sure turning him into a deity and a role model for our children is exactly the right idea either.”

That’s the type of thinking that Mr. Ross said is driving him to create a new mural.

“The reaction made it clear that America still does not value Black life,” he told The Blade.