Confederate monument in St. Louis park vandalized, police say
(Reuters) - Police on Wednesday said they are investigating vandalism of a Confederate monument in a St. Louis park just ten miles from the town of Ferguson, where a 2014 police shooting sparked renewed attention on race relations. The black and red spray paint on the 32-foot-high granite shaft in Forest Park is the latest sign of backlash against symbols of the Confederacy following the fatal shootings of nine people in a historically black Charleston, South Carolina church. The monument, which is near the Missouri History Museum, has been marked with the words "Black Lives Matter" and an expletive against the Confederacy, according to photos of the damage supplied by the city. "Black Lives Matter" has been a common slogan at protests against recent killings of black men by white police officers, including the death of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson last year. In April, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay questioned whether the memorial, presented to the city in 1914 by Daughters of the Confederacy of St. Louis, should be removed and whether a nearby thoroughfare should still be named "Confederate Drive." On Wednesday morning, police responded to a report of vandalism and found cans of spray paint at the scene, St. Louis Metropolitan Police spokeswoman Leah Freeman said. The city's parks department is cleaning up the memorial, and a criminal investigation is ongoing, Freeman said. Since the South Carolina shooting last week, public condemnation to the Confederate flag has grown, with politicians in South Carolina and other states pushing for its removal from statehouses and several major retailers saying they will no longer sell items with the Confederacy symbol. The alleged shooter in the attack, Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white man, apparently posed in pictures with the flag, according to a website that surfaced after the attack. While some see the flag as a symbol of racism, defenders say it represents their Southern heritage. (Reporting by Mary Wisniewski)
