Mural honoring George Floyd defaced with white nationalist graffiti in Oregon
A Portland mural honoring George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery was vandalized with white supremacist graffiti, according to the muralist.
The muralist, who goes by Firekat on social media, said in an Instagram post Monday that he was, “sad, confused and lost for words” after the mural was defaced.
“For White Supremacist haters to come vandalize and deface my mural and the community’s mural just blows my mind,” he wrote.
Firekat posted a picture of the vandalized mural, which contained the words “Patriot Front,” a group that supports white supremacist ideology, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The mural was restored later Monday, Firekat said in another Instagram post, and was repainted with the words “we stand with you.”
“Yesterday I witnessed powerful moments...” he wrote. “The real meaning of what unity, family, community and true activism is about!! Me and a whole team of people I’ve never met before stepped up, came together and got the wall done by 7 PM”
Businesses in Portland also donated to the cause, including Carioca Bowls, a vegetarian restaurant, and I’ve Been Framed, an art supply store, KGW reported. St. Beatrix also offered free coffee and pizza to people helping repair the mural.
The graffiti comes more than a year after Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died in police custody, and his death sparked protests across the nation. He died after Derek Chauvin, a now-convicted Minneapolis police officer, pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, as three other officers didn’t intervene.
Taylor, 26, an African-American ER technician, was killed on March 13, 2020, after Louisville officers executed a “no-knock” warrant at her apartment during a narcotics investigation, shooting her at least eight times.
Arbery, 25, was shot and killed on Feb. 23, 2020, while jogging outside of Brunswick, Georgia, and no arrests were made until last May, when a video of the shooting emerged online.