According to CBS SF BayArea, Oakland police are investigating an act of vandalism that left a ceramic bust of Breonna Taylor severely damaged.
Just two weeks ago, Leo Carson, a sculptor who worked as a food server before the pandemic, installed the ceramic bust in Latham Square near City Hall.
Carson, who doesn’t believe that the vandalism was random said “Looks like they hit it with a baseball bat along the back.” He said he thinks it was an attack against the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I don’t think there’s a single person in Oakland who doesn’t know who Breonna Taylor is, and I don’t think you attack a sculpture like that by accident,” he said. “And I think that it was an act of racism and an act of aggression and intimidation.”
In March Breonna Taylor was killed during a police raid on her Louisville, Kentucky apartment. “Say her name, Breonna Taylor” has become a civil rights call for justice.
Carson said he’ll rebuild the bust, and has started a Gofundme account to raise money to recast the statue in bronze.
“I hope that it will inspire solidarity and that we can rebuild this you know even stronger than it was before,” Carson said.
