A statue recognizing Confederate soldiers was spray-painted over the weekend with "Black Lives Matter" and "This is a problem #racist" scrawled at the base of the monument in Charleston, South Carolina.
The graffiti was found on the statue in downtown Charleston dedicated "To the Confederate Defenders of Charleston – Fort Sumter" on Sunday as people were arriving in the area to honor the nine victims killed in last week's shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church,
according to WCIV-TV.
One message on the vandalized statue addressed South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Charleston mayor Joe Riley: "Riley and Haley – Why defend this evil. This is the root of our evil."
The Charleston Post and Courier said that authorities were alerted to the vandalism about 12:30 p.m. and it was covered up about an hour later.
Two posters with competing messages were taped on the tarp that covered the statue shortly afterward. One of messages said "All lives matter #charlestonunited," while the other message read, "Take down racist statues."
About 1,000 people protested in the South Carolina state capital of Columbia demanding that the Confederate battle flag be removed from the grounds of the statehouse. The church shooting has reignited a debate on the public display of the flag by the South Carolina government.
A photo of shooting suspect Dylann Roof holding a Confederate flag was found on a website reportedly created by Roof registered as "Last Rhodesian,"
reported the Daily Beast.
"I have no choice. I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight," said the text on the website. "I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country."
The Confederate flag was moved from atop the South Carolina capitol building to a monument across the street from the building as a part of a compromise in the state legislator in 2000,
said CNN.
State Rep. Doug Brannon said he plans to introduce a bill to remove the flag when the legislature starts up again in January.
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