A statue commemorating York, an enslaved Black member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was defaced with a hate symbol over the weekend at Southeast Portland’s Mt. Tabor Park.
A photo of the statue taken early Sunday morning showed a plaque describing York marked with a red logo resembling a symbol used by Patriot Front, a white supremacist group. White paint had also been sprayed on the pedestal with the plaque and over a portion of the statue.
The symbol had been painted over with dark gray paint by mid-morning Sunday, but its outline was still visible under the paint.
Last week, a George Floyd Statue in Brooklyn, New York was spray-painted and marked with a stencil for Patriot Front, according to The New York Times. Officials in Newark, New Jersey are also investigating a similar incident involving a statue of Floyd, and a mural of Floyd in Philadelphia was defaced in a similar fashion earlier this month, The New York Times reported.
The York statue mysteriously appeared in Mt. Tabor Park in February. The statue was placed on a pedestal that had previously held a statue of Harvey Scott, an editor of The Oregonian for 40 years who was also known for his conservative views. The statue of Scott was toppled in October, in one of a series of incidents in which statues of historical figures were taken down in the wake of 2020 social justice protests.
When the bust of York appeared, it wasn’t clear who had created it, or placed it on the Mt. Tabor Park pedestal. Adena Long, Portland Parks and Recreation director, said in a statement that the piece of art was “a complete surprise” for the parks department.
Portland Parks commissioner Carmen Rubio said, “We should regard this installation for both the important piece that it is, as well as a much-needed reminder to city leaders to hasten our work of rooting out white supremacy in our institutions—particularly our city government, where many processes exclude community participation and discourage engagement.”
A plaque placed beneath the bust of York described him as, “The first African American to cross North America and reach the Pacific Coast.”
While many Portlanders have celebrated the tribute to York, the statue has also been the target of vandalism.
A woman was issued a citation for criminal mischief, abuse of venerated objects, unlawful applying of graffiti and vandalism earlier this month after park visitors posted photos of her spray-painting the pedestal that holds the bust of York.
Shortly after the incident, city officials said they were discussing plans to remove the bust of York, although they said those discussions weren’t in response to the vandalism. Jeff Hawthorne, the city’s arts program manager, told The Oregonian/OregonLive earlier this month that the bust is constructed of wood and liquid urethane, which might make it vulnerable to the elements.
“We are having conversations about what may go there permanently, and we want to engage the community about who we want to memorialize thorough our public art collection,” Hawthorne said earlier this month.
A statue commemorating York at Mt. Tabor Park was defaced with a hate symbol over the weekend. The hate symbol had been painted over by mid-morning on Sunday, June 27, 2021, but white spray paint still covered the pedestal and statue.
-- Kristi Turnquist
kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist
https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2021/06/york-statue-atop-mount-tabor-defaced-with-hate-symbol.html
2021-06-27 22:38:59Z
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