‘Racist Intimidation’

Statue of Breonna Taylor Vandalized in Oakland

“Oakland will not tolerate acts of hatred,” mayor Libby Schaaf wrote on Twitter.

Oakland Police are investigating the vandalism of a bust of Breonna Taylor in the city’s downtown area. Taylor, a 26-year-old woman from Louisville, Kentucky, was killed by police earlier this year in a mistaken no-knock raid on her apartment. Her image became a nationwide rallying point in this year’s protests against police brutality and anti-Black racism. Leo Carson, the artist behind the bust, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was “devastated emotionally” by the bust being defaced. “It’s an attack on Breonna Taylor and Black Lives Matter and it’s racist intimidation.” He has since started a GoFundMe to help raise funds to repair the bust. “Oakland will not tolerate acts of hatred,” mayor Libby Schaaf wrote on Twitter in response to the vandalism.