A Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway Monument along U.S. 60 near Gold Canyon in Arizona has been tarred and feathered by vandals trying to make a point about the president of the Confederacy.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety is investigating the incident.
Tarring and feathering is a form of mob vengeance meant to punish and humiliate. It was often used against African-Americans in the days before the Civil War and even into the civil rights era.
“Somebody had to put a little thought into it, but this is going to cost a lot of money to clean up,” Mesa resident John Rogers told Fox 10.
Tom Hill, also of Mesa, told the station, “This is state property. State property. It is vandalism. The state controls this.”
The Confederate Troops Memorial outside the Arizona Capitol also was spray painted white at some point before Thursday morning.
Confederate monuments around the country have been similarly defaced following a violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend by white nationalists and supremacists.
A movement has been taking place in recent months to remove statues and monuments that depict Confederate leaders, soldiers, and symbols to avoid glorifying past racism and support for slavery, although many don’t support removing the statues because they don’t want Americans to forget the lessons of that historical period.
Rep. Reginald Bolding (D-Phoenix) would like to see the statues torn down, but criticized the vandalism, too.
“Vandalizing these monuments is not productive. This will not lead to the civil discourse and debate that we have been calling for,” he said, the New York Daily News reported. “It is a short-term action that does not help the long-term goal of having these offensive monuments removed from state property.”
Arizona was not a state in 1860 when the Civil War began, but southern portions were claimed by the Confederacy.
Twitter decried the action and commented on the motivations of protesters.
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