For the second time in under two months, a statue dedicated to former President Abraham Lincoln statue was defaced in Chicago.
On Thanksgiving, a statue of a young Abraham Lincoln in Senn Park in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood was found covered in splotches of red paint along with the words “COLONIZER” and “LAND BACK,” the Chicago Tribune reported.
According to the outlet, the statue also had “Dakota 38” written on it, in reference to the Dakota Sioux members who Lincoln ordered to be executed following the Dakota War of 1862.
Lincoln commuted the sentences of 264 Dakota fighters but sentenced 38 to be hung in Minnesota, which became the largest mass execution in US history.
The statue has resided in the outdoor park since 1997.
It was chiseled by sculptor Charles Keck, who also designed monuments of former Presidents Andrew Jackson and George Washington.
A similar message was written across another statue of the 16th president in Lincoln Park, roughly six miles away from Senn Park, on Oct. 11.
The vandals, who remain unidentified, allegedly wrote, “Dethrone the colonizers,” “Land back!” and “Avenge the Dakota 38.”
The Chicago Tribune said the perpetrators also posted the names of the 38 Dakota men with the message “tear down the myth of Lincoln the great liberator.”
The statue in Lincoln Park, called “Abraham Lincoln: The Man,” has been called one of the most significant sculptures of Lincoln from the 19th century and was sculpted by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1887 — 22 years after Lincoln’s death.
The Chicago police have yet to make any arrests.
