The ceramic bust, depicting a smiling Taylor, was installed in downtown Oakland, near City Hall. The bust was fixed on a base with a plaque that said “Say your name: Breonna Taylor.”
But on Saturday, just two weeks after its installation, the sculpture was found in pieces. Pieces of the back and side of the bust were missing and some parts of Taylor’s ceramic face were severed.
The Oakland police department confirmed to CNN that it is investigating the act of vandalism, although it did not identify any suspects or potential motives.
Leo Carson, the artist who created the bust, told CNN that he considers it “an act of racist aggression aimed at suppressing the struggle for black freedom.”
He learned the bust was damaged in an Instagram message, he said, when a follower sent him a picture of his broken pieces.
The act of vandalism was an affront to Carson’s motivation behind the bust, which he said he created to “elevate and encourage protesters” when they gather in downtown Oakland to organize against racism and injustice , he told CNN.
To prevent future damage to Taylor’s bust, Carson intends to rebuild it in bronze with donations from the GoFundMe page, which has already surpassed its $ 5,000 mark.
“The vandals wanted to intimidate and silence the Black Lives Matter movement, and that shows that they are few and that we are thousands,” Carson said of achieving his fundraising goal.
Any surplus funds will be donated to Taylor’s family, Carson wrote on the fundraising platform.