ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — A pastor from St. Petersburg has spoken out after one of two charges against him and another local clergyman was dismissed, following their arrests amid the state’s removal of a “Black History Matters” street mural.

Reverend Ben Atherton-Zeman, the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg, and Reverend Andy Oliver, the pastor of Allendale United Methodist Church, were detained on Aug. 29 after they knelt on the road outside the Woodson African American Museum of Florida while Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) crews dismantled the mural.

“Pastor Andy and I managed to get on the mural, kneel down, and begin praying. I prayed that the mural would not be erased,” Atherton-Zeman shared.

Instead, both pastors were taken into custody.

“We were hauled away and arrested for the crime of praying on a mural that says, ‘Black History Matters’,” Atherton-Zeman said.

St. Petersburg police said the two refused to move after multiple demands and were charged with resisting an officer without violence.

“The officers were doing their duty. A sergeant requested, ‘Yes, we want you to move,’ to which I respectfully replied, ‘No, I feel compelled to pray here on this mural.’ After repeated requests to move, they removed us, and we spent the night in jail,” Atherton-Zeman recounted.

While one charge has since been dropped, the two clergymen still face a charge of obstructing a highway or hindering traffic.

“It was unpleasant, but I am focusing on the issue of erasure. To me, that represents a greater crime,” Atherton-Zeman reflected on his night in jail.

A new state law bans murals on intersections, sidewalks, crosswalks, shoulders and lanes, calling them a safety hazard.

In Tampa this past August, state officials defended the removals.

“Pavement art is prohibited, and we’re eliminating all that doesn’t comply with state and federal standards,” stated Jared Perdue, the secretary for the Florida Department of Transportation.

Pastor Oliver issued a statement to 8 On Your Side:

“Many of you know that another pastor and I were facing criminal charges—potentially up to a year in jail for kneeling in prayer at the mural outside the Woodson Museum while the state tried to erase Black history from our streets. In initial conversations with our lawyer, the state attorney’s office said they fully planned to prosecute. We just received word that those charges have been dropped.

I cannot say this without naming how differently this story might have turned out if the people kneeling had been Black, Brown, or queer. Even as clergy, we were treated poorly by the SPPD the night we were arrested, and still, our experience was undoubtedly better than so many others in our city. Every single day, people here are arrested for nonviolent offenses, for nothing more than existing while homeless.

The only thing that remains against me is a traffic citation for $62.50. That’s the same citation most often given to our unhoused neighbors when they are criminalized simply for surviving. So here’s my ask: I would like every person who reads these words to give $62.50 to the Woodson Museum (see link in comments). Let’s turn that citation into an act of solidarity—into support for the work of preserving and telling the truth of Black history in our city.

And let me be clear about this: my immediate focus now is exposing how poorly our city police are treating people on the margins who are arrested for nonviolent offenses. Video evidence exists. We only need to watch, to pay attention, and to demand better.

By no means, do not mistake this for the end of the struggle. Empire (red and blue) still seeks to erase. We will keep placing our bodies in solidarity. And we will keep declaring that love, justice, and truth get the last word. Liberation is coming!”

Atherton-Zeman said he sees the arrests as a moral and religious issue.

“I think when the state gets in the business of saying what voices we can hear from and what voices we can’t, I think that’s troubling,” Atherton-Zeman said. “I think any religious leader and any community leader should really be standing up and saying, ‘No, that’s not the state’s job’.”

He added that he hopes the message will outlast the mural.

“I think there is no erasing of this LGBTQIA+ community, this Black and BIPOC community. I think we’re going to come back, if not as a mural on the street then some other way,” he said.

Court records show the two face a $62.50 fine for obstructing a highway and hindering traffic.

Both pastors are urging supporters to donate that amount to the Woodson African American Museum of Florida in solidarity.