The statue was dislodged from its pedestal and moved from Maplewood Park to the edge of the nearby Genesee River Gorge, according to police.
- Officers are investigating; no arrests have been made.
Carvin Eison, a project director at Frederick Douglass Bicentennial Commemorations, told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle the statue was too damaged to repair and would be replaced with a new likeness of Douglass.Statue of Frederick Douglass Torn Down in Rochester https://t.co/8iEBxSHm52 via @BreitbartNews. This shows that these anarchists have no bounds!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2020
“Is this some type of retaliation because of the national fever over confederate monuments right now? Very disappointing, it’s beyond disappointing,” Eison said to WROC, a local CBS affiliate.
At least 15 statues of Douglass have been erected in Rochester, where the famous abolitionist and orator lived for about 30 years and helped shuttle slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad.
- Two college students vandalized another one of the statues in 2018, claiming they had been “extremely drunk.”
- Some have even called for the elimination of Mount Rushmore, where Trump on Saturday held a defiant Fourth of July celebration.