The police are investigating if the vandalism of the Martin Luther King Jr. statue in Denver’s City Park was racially motivated.
Several pieces of the marble and bronze “I Have a Dream” sculpture were taken on Tuesday. The Denver Post said that bronze flame, angel, and panel honoring Black military veterans were also removed.
Vern Howard, chair of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Colorado Holiday Commission, told the newspaper that a community member informed him of the vandalism on Wednesday morning.
“You can steal. You may take. You can pull. You are allowed to dislike. “You can do whatever you believe necessary to detour the message of Dr. King and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Colorado Holiday Commission,” Howard stated.
“We’re going to continue to march, to honor and to work toward freedom, toward justice, toward the end of racism, toward the end of hatred, and the end of discrimination.”
Artist Ed Dwight made the artwork in 2002.
The memorial comprises a bronze statue of Martin Luther King Jr., as well as smaller statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth, and Frederick Douglass.
The Denver Police Department’s Bias-Motivated Crime Unit is overseeing the inquiry.