WASHINGTON — A vandal armed with a can of spray paint scrawled over a church sign that read: “Black Lives Matter.”

The white paint crossed out the word “Black” and replaced it with “All.”

Christ Congregational Church in Silver Spring, Maryland, brought the vandalized sign inside the sanctuary and made it a central part of the sermon Sunday.

“These are small aggressions, and they build up over time,” the Rev. Dr. Matthew Braddock tells NBC 4.

“I think that they’re deliberate, and they’re intentionally hurtful.”

He said the vandalism diluted the original intent of the message.

“The pain was around realizing that we have brothers and sisters in the African American community who are saying that there is a problem in America right now, and they’re calling all of us to be part of the solution,” he says.

The church at 9525 Colesville Rd. plans to return the vandalized sign to Colesville Road this week, surrounded by new signs that read: “Black Lives Matter.”

NBC4 has more in the video below:

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