A sculpture dedicated to the memory of Breonna Taylor was smashed in multiple places in downtown, Oakland, California, local police stated in its police report.
The ceramic bust of the slain EMT worker from Louisville, Kentucky, was placed near Oakland City Hall two weeks ago, the San Jose Mercury News reports. The bust rests on a pedestal with the phrase “Say Her Name, Breonna Taylor” inscribed on the monument.
After #BreonnaTaylor sculpture smashed in Oakland, artist denounces "racist intimidation."
Story by @MGafni: https://t.co/laueCBhn3r
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) December 28, 2020
The deaths of Taylor, along with George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, became the flashpoints that inspired a national uprising and numerous marches this summer to protest police brutality and social injustice.
Taylor was killed in her apartment during a botched raid by Louisville cops executing a no-knock warrant at 1 a.m. March 13. None of the officers was indicted on homicide charges.
Artist Leo Carson said he told local CBS affiliate KPIX the destruction of his Taylor sculpture was an “act of racism and an act of aggression and intimidation.”
“This is a struggle that will continue to go on, so I want my art to help encourage that process and encourage people to fight longer, fight harder and be more passionate,” Carson told the San Jose Mercury News as he vowed to remake the Taylor bust, this time using brass. “Those protests have the power to really change things.”
While Carson said he believes art does inspire social change, he added that nothing can replace having boots to the ground.
“The way we fight racism is with solidarity,” he said. “Every working-class person who wants to smash racism should get involved in the fight against it. Art is powerful, but it’s mass protests that actually shift the earth.”
