According to police, an unidentified man on a skateboard was captured on video vandalizing a 10-foot-tall bronze statue honoring George Floyd, the Black man who was killed by white former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in May 2020. (Chauvin has been found guilty of murder in killing Floyd and sentenced to more than 22 years of prison as of this summer. He intends to appeal both the conviction and the sentence .) Police say the statue, which is located in Union Square Park in New York City, was vandalized on Sunday morning. The skateboarder threw paint on the statue and then rushed off from the scene on their skateboard. Sadly, this isn’t even the first time someone has vandalized the memorial for Floyd.
Originally, the statue was unveiled on Juneteeth in Brooklyn, New York. Within five days at its spot on Flatbush Avenue, someone (or someones) vandalized it with the symbol of Patriot Front, a white supremacist group, and black paint. From there, it was moved to its Manhattan location. Folks are hoping that with the help of surveillance video, the perpetrator can be caught. According to the New York Police Department Crime Stoppers tweet with the footage, the person is wanted on criminal mischief charges.
Here is that video.
Police describe the man in the video as having a light complexion and a medium build. As seen in the video, it appears he was wearing a black hat and shorts, a bright green T-shirt, and a dark jacket.
Lindsay Eshelman, a member of Confront Art, the organization that produced the showcase to include Floyd’s memorial, spoke to CBS News about the vandalism, telling the outlet that the statue had only been there for two days before it was defaced. Angie Onmars of the same organization told the outlet that the Floyd family is hurt to see their family member being vandalized once again.
Other statues that are part of the showcase include one of Breonna Taylor, the Black woman who was shot and killed by Louisville police, as well as the late Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, an iconic civil rights hero who died last year.
Per The Washington Post, artist Chris Carnabuci, who created the Floyd memorial, stressed via a statement on Sunday that vandalism is not “productive or meaningful” and that while this incident is upsetting, it’s not a “complete surprise.”
“Actions like this remind us that we have a long way to go, and we will never stop fighting,” Carnabuci said.
In a glimmer of hope, a group of strangers decided to work together to clean and restore the statue. One volunteer, Harmony Seaburg, told CNN that it was a “very emotional” process to get all the paint off of Floyd’s face. Seaburg said the volunteers don’t actually know one another, and aren’t connected to the showcase project. One of the volunteers happened to be a painter and knew what supplies to get, so the group purchased the needed materials themselves and got to work.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul described the vandalism as an act of “cowardice” and “hate” in a Twitter post and directed the state’s Hate Crimes Task Force to help in the investigation.
You can watch some of the restoration efforts below.
YouTube Video
Originally, the statue was unveiled on Juneteeth in Brooklyn, New York. Within five days at its spot on Flatbush Avenue, someone (or someones) vandalized it with the symbol of Patriot Front, a white supremacist group, and black paint. From there, it was moved to its Manhattan location. Folks are hoping that with the help of surveillance video, the perpetrator can be caught. According to the New York Police Department Crime Stoppers tweet with the footage, the person is wanted on criminal mischief charges.
Here is that video.
Police describe the man in the video as having a light complexion and a medium build. As seen in the video, it appears he was wearing a black hat and shorts, a bright green T-shirt, and a dark jacket.
Lindsay Eshelman, a member of Confront Art, the organization that produced the showcase to include Floyd’s memorial, spoke to CBS News about the vandalism, telling the outlet that the statue had only been there for two days before it was defaced. Angie Onmars of the same organization told the outlet that the Floyd family is hurt to see their family member being vandalized once again.
Other statues that are part of the showcase include one of Breonna Taylor, the Black woman who was shot and killed by Louisville police, as well as the late Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, an iconic civil rights hero who died last year.
Per The Washington Post, artist Chris Carnabuci, who created the Floyd memorial, stressed via a statement on Sunday that vandalism is not “productive or meaningful” and that while this incident is upsetting, it’s not a “complete surprise.”
“Actions like this remind us that we have a long way to go, and we will never stop fighting,” Carnabuci said.
In a glimmer of hope, a group of strangers decided to work together to clean and restore the statue. One volunteer, Harmony Seaburg, told CNN that it was a “very emotional” process to get all the paint off of Floyd’s face. Seaburg said the volunteers don’t actually know one another, and aren’t connected to the showcase project. One of the volunteers happened to be a painter and knew what supplies to get, so the group purchased the needed materials themselves and got to work.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul described the vandalism as an act of “cowardice” and “hate” in a Twitter post and directed the state’s Hate Crimes Task Force to help in the investigation.
You can watch some of the restoration efforts below.
YouTube Video