John C. Calhoun Statue Vandalized With ‘Racist’, Former Politician Defended Slavery
The debate over how much South Carolina should celebrate its Confederate past has been exacerbated after a second statue was vandalized in downtown Charleston.
Live 5 News have reported that a statue of John C. Calhoun was defaced in Marion Square with the word “racist,” as well as several other attacks on the the former politician.
Further spray painting adjusted the plaque that read “Truth, Justice, and the Constitution,” by adding the words “and slavery.” Next to Calhoun’s name on the statue it now reads, “Calhoun, RACIST.”
John C. Calhoun statue vandalized in downtown Charleston http://t.co/tIk5MJ2UIe #chsnews pic.twitter.com/J4BHH7UGvl
— Live5News (@Live5News) June 23, 2015
John C Calhoun was a South Carolina native who not only served as the Vice President to John Quincy Adams, but was a member of the U.S. House Of Representatives too. However, he was a firm advocate of the South’s secession from the Union, even though he died 11 years before the start of the American Civil War. He was also a staunch defender of slavery.
This is the second such act of vandalism on a Confederate monument in South Carolina over the last few days. On Sunday, a Confederate statue in The Battery in White Point Garden in Charleston had the phrases, “Black Lives Matter,” “Riley & Haley [sic] this is the root of our evil,” “Why defend this evil,” and “Bill Orell is found racism.”
According to Live 5 News, the statue in question was erected in 1932 by the Charleston Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and is entitled, “Defenders Of Charleston — Fort Sumter.”
These protests have been orchestrated in the wake of the deaths of several churchgoers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. The attack is believed to have been racially motivated, and suspect Dylann Roof is now currently in custody. Evidence of Roof celebrating the Confederacy have since circulated following his arrest, and this has led to a debate over how much the state should honor its confederate past.
Both of these acts of vandalism are now under investigation.
[Image via Post & Courier]
