Spray paint-wielding vandals in Chicago coated an iconic Abraham Lincoln statue with weird slogans on Monday — together with one which claimed the Nice Emancipator was truly an “executioner.”
The monument — which sits close to the Chicago Historical past Museum within the metropolis’s Lincoln Park neighborhood — was defaced as a part of an obvious act of protest on Indigenous Peoples Day, in line with CBS Information.
The messages included one which mentioned, “Lincoln was an executioner,” and one other that mentioned, “Could all empires fall from Turtle Island to Palestine.”
The Lincoln reference is an obvious nod to the sixteenth president’s 1862 order that 38 Dakota males who fought with white settlers in Minnesota be hanged the day after Christmas.
An lawyer by commerce, Lincoln decided that 39 Sioux have been responsible of homicide or rape throughout an rebellion that yr, in line with the Related Press.
He ordered their execution, whereas commuting the sentences of 264 others — however later gave one other reprieve to one of many accused, saving him from the gallows.
Turtle Island can be a reputation for North America utilized by some indigenous folks, CBS mentioned.
Cops are nonetheless investigating the incident, which seemingly occurred in the course of the in a single day hours.
No arrests have been made.
It’s not the primary time somebody hit the “Standing Lincoln” statue — an nameless group of vandals struck in October 2022 additionally pouring paint on the monument to attract consideration to Indigenous Peoples Day, in line with the Chicago Solar-Instances.
That group used related language, scrawling phrases comparable to “Dethrone the Colonizers, “Land Again!” and “Avenge the Dakota 38,” the outlet mentioned.
Lincoln, who was born in Kentucky earlier than transferring to Illinois in 1830, is broadly thought-about one among America’s biggest presidents, ending slavery and guiding the Union military to victory over the Confederacy.
Supply hyperlink