A Charleston statue spray-painted with “Black Lives Matter” appeared after the Dylann Storm Roof arrest. The confessed Charleston church shooter has reportedly been vocal about his desires to start a race war in America. The vandalism of the Confederate statue is the second such graffiti incident in recent months.
A Jefferson Davis statue was vandalized at the University of Texas. The Davis statue was believed to be spray-painted to demonstrate against the Confederacy and the “ties to slavery” the monument allegedly represents. As previously reported by the Inquisitr , Confederate Flag license plates were recently outlawed in Texas.
Prior to an unknown person or persons having Charleston statue spray-painted, Joseph Meek said said Dylann Roof “ranted” about killing black people and segregation. Meek is reportedly a friend of the alleged Charleston shooting suspect. Roof said black people were “taking over the world” and he wanted to do something to support the “white race,” according to Meek.
“He [Dylann Roof] said he was planning for about six months to do something crazy. He wanted it to be segregated. He wanted it to be white with the white, black with the black. All the races segregated. He wanted to do something big, like the Trayvon Martin case. He was upset about it. It made him mad,” Meek told the media.
Roof allegedly told a member of the Charleston church, who he allowed to survive the shooting, that black people “rape our women and are taking over our country.” Calls for the Confederate Flag to be removed from the South Carolina statehouse began occurring in the days following the AME church shooting.
The Charleston statue spray-painted with Black Lives Matter is a memorial to Confederate soldiers who defended the city during the Civil War. Red spray paint on the pedestal of the statue also read, “This is the problem. #Racist.”
Charleston police officials told the media that city workers covered up the graffiti on the Charleston statue honoring the Confederacy with a tarp.
“I don’t think we’re trying to put up stuff just to put up stuff,” said Marshall Davis, spokesman for the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Texas. “We don’t want to impede anyone else from honoring their heroes. We would like to honor our heroes with the same consideration, tolerance, and diversity.
It is not known when the Black Lives Matter vandalism occurred, police are still investigating the incident. The red spray paint will reportedly be sanded off in the near future.
[Image via Twitter]