The police have opened investigations into circumstances leading to the vandalization of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Denver’s City Park as part of moves to determine whether the act was racially motivated.
Several parts of the marble and bronze “I Have a Dream” sculpture were stolen sometime Tuesday. Other pieces that were taken away include a bronze torch, an angel, and a bronze panel honoring Black military veterans, according to The Denver Post.
Vern Howard, chair of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Colorado Holiday Commission, disclosed to the newspaper that a community member alerted him about the vandalism on Wednesday morning.
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“You can steal. You can take. You can pull. You can hate. You can do everything that you believe necessary to detour the message of Dr. King and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Colorado Holiday Commission,” Howard said.
“We’re going to continue to march, to honor and to work toward freedom, toward justice, toward the end of racism, toward the end of hatred, and the end of discrimination.”
The sculpture was built by Artist Ed Dwight in 2002.
The memorial includes a bronze statue of Martin Luther King Jr. alongside smaller statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth, and Frederick Douglass.
The Denver Police Department’s Bias-Motivated Crime Unit is leading the investigation.
