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In what officials call a cruel attack and hateful act, a bust honoring Breonna Taylor was vandalized in Oakland, California over the weekend.
Emblazoned with the phrase “Say your name,” the ceramic bust was found smashed the day after Christmas, two weeks after it was installed in the city center.
LEO_CARSON_ART / Instagram
A bust honoring Breonna Taylor, created by artist Leo Carson.
The artwork commemorates Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman shot and killed by police inside her Louisville, Kentucky apartment during a failed drug bust in March. The deaths of Taylor and other black people killed by police, such as George Floyd, have spurred generations of America’s recognition of racial injustice and sparked mass protests across the country.
Oakland police are investigating but provided few details.
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Leo Carson, the artist who created the bust, called the vandalism an “attack on the Black Lives Matter movement, an attack on Breonna Taylor and an attempt at intimidation.”
Supplied / AP
Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police inside her apartment during a failed drug bust in March.
But instead of squashing those voices, Carson, 30, said, “actually, we have proven the exact opposite.”
News of the vandalism attracted attention to what was a quiet, independently conceived project. That has now translated into support, including donations, to return the bust to a more solid shape.
A GoFundMe page launched on Sunday to raise NZ $ 7,000 to rebuild the bronze work surpassed its goal in less than 24 hours. Now about $ 11,200, Carson said any money not spent on rebuilding the sculpture will be donated to Taylor’s family.
When the coronavirus pandemic struck, Carson lost his job as a waiter at a hamburger restaurant in nearby Berkeley. He used the extra time to design the sculpture over several months. Once settled in, he said he was excited to see community members take photos of the work and enjoy it.
Carson, who lives in Oakland, was notified of the vandalism in an Instagram post Saturday night and went to see his artwork. When he saw the damage, he said he was “really shocked and overwhelmed.”
After examining the damage, Carson believes that the vandal, or vandals, struck the piece twice – once on the back of the sculpted head and once on the shoulder. Photos circulating online show large ripped chunks of the bust.
In a tweet Monday morning, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf called the vandalism “a cruel attack,” noting that Oakland would not tolerate “acts of hate.”
Oakland “has a lot of work to do,” Carson said, in terms of enacting anti-racist policies. He said he wants the city to cut funding for the police and increase spending on affordable housing, public schools and other needy institutions.
Soon, Carson will go through the lengthy process of casting the work in bronze and building a stronger stand to hold the greater weight of the heavy metal. And he says he will not give up his activism; he has been chosen to speak at a political rally in Seattle in early January.
“I’m an activist even before I’m an artist,” he said.
