George Floyd mural vandalized twice in a week, art collective speaks out

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The George Floyd mural in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood has been defaced twice this week.

This portrait of George Floyd has lived at the corner of Holton and North since June 2020.

The mural's curator says it has never been vandalized before, until this week.

"For two years, people have loved it and not touched it," said Samuel Alford with Art-I-Culture Collective, the team of artists behind the mural.

Vandalism was first spotted Tuesday, with a splash of gray paint across Floyd's face, which the main artist quickly repainted.

On Friday morning, there was more vandalism, including red spray paint and a white sticker that read, "WHITE PRIVILEGE DOESN'T EXIST - John 3:16."

"Cowards have patterns, and honestly I'm not surprised. I kind of thought this would happen again," Alford said. "It's an act of weakness, whoever's doing it."

Alford thinks it could be related to recent disparaging comments about Floyd by rapper Kanye West.

"The timing is very precarious. It's not hard to put one and one together," Alford said.

"Whatever the reason is, hatred, self-hatred, I don't want to put any labels on it except that it's evil," said community activist Andre' Lee Ellis.

The artists are asking the community to keep a watchful eye on the area.

"We want to talk to the business owners, see if we can enforce more cameras, put some cameras around," Alford said. "History will read well. Whoever put that on this wall, their grandchildren won't be proud of them 10 years, 20 years from now."

Alford's message on Friday was that hate is unproductive, and that the movement sparked by George Floyd's murder will carry on.

"His legacy is bigger than just this mural," Alford said.

Alford said the main artist will come back soon to cover the most recent vandalism and will continue to repaint the mural whenever needed.

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