Just recently, the statue of George Floyd, the slain 46-year-old Minneapolis Black man who was murdered in May 2020 by local police officer Derek Chauvin by kneeling on his neck, was vandalized.
The 6-foot bronze statue was installed and unveiled during Juneteenth 2021 and joins 6-foot statues of Breonna Taylor, the slain 26-year-old Louisville Black woman who was also murdered at the hands of police in June 2020, and John Lewis, the late 80-year-old congressman and civil rights activist.
According to the Associated Press, a man was captured on video footage splattering paint just before 10am. This is the second time the George Floyd statue has been vandalized. Just days after it’s unveiling, it was vandalized by a white Nationalist group.
The exhibition, called “SEEINJUSTICE” was created by 57-year-old Chris Carnabuci, who was inspired by the subsequent protests that took place during 2020 because of the murders of Floyd and Taylor. Carnabuci worked with Andrew Cohen and Lindsay Eshelman, founders of Confront Art, an organization that aims to connect artists with social justice causes to create public art. Carnabuci also reached out to the Floyd family to their blessing.
Writer Precious Fondren, in her 2021 article for the New York Times, reported on the statement Terrence Floyd and reps from his slain brother’s nonprofit. She writes, “‘it’s incredibly disappointing how the statues were defaced in such a short amount of time, and it just goes to show you how far we still have to go to reach our goal of unity,’ Terrence Floyd said Sunday in a joint statement with the nonprofit We Are Floyd Foundation.”
Carnabuci went on to point out that this act of vandalism is an example of the fight for civil rights is far from over. “‘It is quite upsetting to us all.’ He said the exhibit aimed to inspire civil discourse and provide a space where different opinions could be heard…vandalism of any sort is not an action that is productive or meaningful,’ he said… ‘Actions like this remind us that we have a long way to go, and we will never stop fighting.’”
This comes just months after the trial and conviction of Chauvin. A trial that while may have initially felt like a step forward is hardly the close to the final step. Clean up efforts are underway for the statue to be restored but there still has not been word if any aggressive security measures will be taken to ensure this does not happen again.
