Confederate statue, Tattnall Square Park vandalized in Macon

Clean-up crews were again dispatched Wednesday after a monument of an anonymous Civil War Soldier in downtown Macon was tagged with graffiti.

Vandalism was also reported at Tattnall Square Park.

“How offended are you now,” was spray painted on the monument at the corner of Second Street and Cotton Avenue, along with the acronym “BLM.”

Graffiti at Tattnall Square Park included the Black Lives Matter acronym and the Bible verse Deuteronomy 32:35. A quote from Sam Oni, Mercer University’s first Black student, was covered with white spray paint. A “V” inside of a circle was spray-painted nearby.

At this point, Macon-Bibb County Mayor Robert Reichert said they don’t know if it was a juvenile or a misguided adult who spray painted the different areas in Macon.

“We’re trying to respond to it as we always do, clean it up as quickly and efficiently as we can so that it doesn’t deface public property. We need to be proud and inspired by our public spaces, not distracted by spray paint and graffiti and vandalism, that serves no purpose, and we need to remember that we’re better as a community than that,” he said. “We need to work together and to make progress on issues that are here in Macon-Bibb County.”

The handwriting at the museum and the monument appeared to be similar, but Reichert said they don’t know who vandalized the spaces. Cleaning up the damage has cost the county about $2,150.

“We don’t need somebody that is trying to divide this community. Instead we need people to try to promote unity throughout this community so that we can address the issues that need to be addressed,” he said. “If I happen to be talking to the ones that are actually out there with the spray paint doing this outside, please stop. You’re not helping the situation. You’re just creating a distraction that prevents the kind of good faith conversation that we need to have.”

Reichert said he was proud of the community for holding peaceful protests following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, and he is also proud of the leadership of Macon-Bibb County, such as Sheriff David Davis, for participating in the protests, he said.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for any of the graffiti. Andrew Silver, a Mercer University professor who was instrumental in efforts to renovate Tattnall Square Park, urged caution in ascribing motivations to the graffiti.

“Although the messages purport to support Black Lives Matter, there are many reasons to doubt that this came from a BLM supporter, and I’d caution all of us not to rush to judgment about those responsible until we know for certain who did this,” he wrote. “In the meantime, let’s try to listen to our neighbors and come together as a community committed to the four defining words around the peace fountain: LOVE, JUSTICE, TRUST, and HOPE.”

Bibb County first learned early Wednesday through social media that the Confederate monument had been tagged with graffiti, said spokesman Chris Floore. The sheriff’s department has been contacted and parks and recreation is expected to file an incident report.

Tuesday, crews repaired defaced Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard street signs and erased graffiti outside the Tubman Museum in downtown Macon that read “This offends me.”

Friday, Jack Ellis, a former mayor, and others met at the foot of the same Confederate monument tagged with graffiti Wednesday to call for its removal.

This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 11:19 AM.