A rash of instances of property destruction, vandalism, and petty crimes have cascaded across the country unleashed by the “Black Lives Matter” movement as families grieve those killed by a lone gunman in a South Carolina church.
The mood was set on Sunday as “Black Lives Matter” protesters gathered to burn the US flag and hoist a black nationalist flag in Charleston, South Carolina on Saturday. A photo of the flag burning was posted to Twitter by professional race agitator DeRay McKesson.
By Tuesday statues and monuments from Maryland and the Carolina Coast down to Texas had been defaced by criminals leaving “Black Lives Matter” messages spray painted upon them.
Charleston, South Carolina itself had at least two monuments defaced. In the first case, Saturday night the Confederate Defenders of Charleston monument in White Point Garden park was defaced with a “Black Lives Matter” message.
In a second incident, on Tuesday a statue dedicated to famed legislator and seventh Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun was defaced in Charleston’s Marion Square.
The vandalism continued elsewhere. On Monday a statue dedicated to fallen Confederate soldiers was vandalized in Baltimore, Maryland’s Bolton Hill neighborhood.
Another statue, this one in Asheville, North Carolina, was defaced on Tuesday. A monument dedicated to Civil War governor Zebulon Vance, built in 1896, was also desecrated with the “Black Lives Matter” message.
The destruction continued westward where a statue dedicated to former Confederate president Jefferson Davis was vandalized at the University of Texas at Austin.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com