A statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass was ripped from its base in Rochester, New York, on the anniversary of one of his most famous speeches, delivered in that city in 1852.
The Douglass statue was dismantled and taken Sunday from Maplewood Park, a site along the subway where Douglass and Harriet Tubman helped transport slaves to freedom.
The statue was found on the edge of the Genesee River gorge about 50 feet (15 meters) from its pedestal, police said.
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In a statement provided to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, police said the statue, after being removed, “had been placed on top of the gorge fence and was leaning against the fence.”
The statue was abandoned about 50 feet away from where it had been, according to the report. There was damage to the base and a finger.
President Trump condemned vandalism on Monday and said in a tweet: “This shows that these anarchists have no limits!”
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In Rochester on July 5, 1852, Douglass delivered the “What the Slave is for the Fourth of July” speech, calling the celebration of freedom a farce in a nation that enslaves and oppresses its black citizens.
For a slave, Douglass said, Independence Day is “a day that reveals to him, more than all other days of the year, the great injustice and cruelty of which he is the constant victim.”
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Douglass died in 1895 and was buried in a cemetery in Rochester.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
