George Floyd Statue In Manhattan Vandalized, But Quickly Returned To Form By Art Group Volunteers
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A statue in memory of George Floyd in Union Square was vandalized on Sunday morning.
Police say someone splashed it with paint, and it’s not the first time the statue has been targeted, CBS2’s Jessica Layton reported.
New Yorkers and tourists alike were marveling Sunday night at the larger-than-life statue of Floyd, which was restored to its golden shine in Union Square Park after it was defaced earlier in the day.
Volunteers with the group Confront Art spent the day peeling off thick layers of gray-blue paint that was splashed on the sculpture only days after it went up in the park — the place where thousands have marched in memory of Floyd and in protest of police brutality. Floyd, a Black man, died in May 2020 after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for about 10 minutes. The piece of art was just unveiled in the Manhattan park on Thursday.
It was moved from an exhibit in Flatbush, Brooklyn, where over the summer it was vandalized for the first time. Police said that crime was the work of four people tied to a local supremacist group. So this is now twice that the statue — and its supporters — feel like they’ve been targeted, Layton reported.
“The crazy thing is we knew that this could happen. It just kind of shows that what we’re doing is sparking conversation, it’s sparking controversy. That is the mission of art, to evoke emotion. I don’t align with this emotion. It’s super frustrating, but it shows the disunification of America that we live in,” said Lindsay Eshelman, co-founder of Confront Art.
“It’s the memory, you know. The memory is being tainted and we want to shed light. We did this out of good intention for the community and it’s really sad this is happening,” Confront Art’s Angie Onmars added.
The statue, along with statues of John Lewis and Breonna Taylor, are part of a temporary exhibit called “See Injustice” — a call to recognize the mistreatment of Black men and women, with hopes of promoting peace and healing throughout the country.
Police said they do have surveillance video of the person they believe is responsible, but they haven’t caught that suspect yet.
CBS2’s Jessica Layton contributed to this report.
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October 04, 2021 at 07:05AM
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