Though it sent a shock through the Oakland, California community when a recently erected bust of Breonna Taylor was found vandalized just after Christmas, even worse fortune three days later when the broken monument disappeared entirely.
Ms. Taylor, 26, was a Black woman and emergency room technician in Louisville, Kentucky. In March 2020, Louisville police erroneously carried out a no-knock warrant on her home, and after sustaining a gunshot wound during the ensuing struggle, she passed away.
Soon after news of Ms. Taylor’s death spread, civil rights activists paid their respects across social media. In hopes that the American people might remember her tragedy and learn from it, the phrase ‘Say Her Name’ was quickly adopted to be used as a way for people to pay homage to her.
According to the New York Times, on Dec. 12, independent Bay Area artist Leo Carson unveiled his work; a bust of Ms. Taylor. It was accompanied with a placard identifying her and inscribed with the phrase ‘Say Her Name’. The monument was
placed in a plaza near Oakland’s City Hall. By Carson’s reports the ceramic statue was a large undertaking, requiring several months and around $600 in materials to create.
When the statue was installed on that Saturday, Carson uploaded a picture of his piece to Instagram. Shortly after that, one user commented on the photo, “Pull that down, it’s a source of riots.”
Exactly two weeks after its unveiling, reports came in that the memorial had been damaged. Images from both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, as well as Carson’s own Instagram, depict the memorial in several different degrees of destruction, indicating that the pieces were removed over the course of multiple vandalizations.
On the following Sunday, Carson created a GoFundMe to fund a reconstruction of Ms. Taylor’s monument, this time planning “to rebuild her in bronze.” By the next day, the fundraiser had exceeded the $5000 Carson requested for the costlier materials.
That Tuesday, Carson woke to a surprise: the entire statue was completely gone.
The Oakland Police issued a statement over email that a report had been filed and the initial vandalism was being investigated, according to the NY Times.
The email was sent out on the Monday between the statue’s vandalism and its theft, and the police did not respond to questions about whether or when the statue was removed.
Shortly after the monument was stolen, Carson hosted a press conference where he denounced the attack and filled the memorial in with concrete, in hopes of preventing further loss.
On Dec. 31 he added an update to the GoFundMe page, saying that “the sculpture will need to be entirely reconstructed which will significantly add to the cost and labor it will take to restore the memorial.” Carson reiterated his vow to rigorously record his use of the money, and that the remaining sum will be donated to Ms. Taylor’s family.
Since the page was first put up, donations to the rebuilding project have climbed to a total of over $27,000 as of Jan. 7, which is five times the original goal. Carson maintained focus on the greater cause, concluding his update post by asserting “We will keep fighting until Black Lives Matter.”
Image via Los Angeles Times
