To coincide with Columbus Day celebrations, one or more vandals (the “vandal”) attacked the Standing Lincoln statue, which is located just to the south of Stockton Drive in Chicago’s Lincoln Park, using red and black spray paint. The 12-foot tribute to the 16th President of the United States was designed by Irish sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and funded by Chicago lumber merchant Eli Bates. Ten thousand people, including Lincoln’s grandson, attended the statue’s dedication on October 22, 1887.

The vandal covered Lincoln’s back in red paint, together with portions of his arms. On the statue’s base, he scribbled the words “Land Back” on its left side; “Lincoln Was An Executioner” on its front side; and “Land Back” on its right side. On the semicircular exedra in back of the statue, the vandal added the phrase, “May All Empires Fall From Turtle Island to Palestine” in red paint. The words “Remember the Dakota 38” are scrawled on the concrete in front of the statue’s base.

This was not the first time the statue had been vandalized. In October 2022, similar messages were spray painted on the statue.

By way of background, “Turtle Island” is the term early Native Americans used to describe the North American continent. The Dakota 38 are the 38 members of the Santee Sioux tribe who were hanged at the end of the Dakota War of 1862 by the United States in what is still the largest mass execution in United States history. These individuals had been convicted of murders and rapes.

In 2018, the Associated Press published an article addressing whether President Abraham Lincoln had ordered the executions. Harold Holzer, the author of several books about Lincoln, told the AP that Lincoln had in fact reviewed each case, and then ordered the executions. Lincoln commuted 264 cases against other Native Americans who participated in the uprising.

The vandal’s act oozes with slimy arrogance; reflecting his certainty that there is only only correct viewpoint. In his mind, the vandal’s certainty gives him license to ignore everyone else in the community. He chooses to impose his views as if nobody else’s views are relevant or valid.

Of course, the vandal had the option of lobbying or petitioning to have the statue removed from the park and removing Lincoln’s name from the eponymously named park. In recent years, several cities have removed statues of Confederate Army generals from public parks and facilities, so seeking removal through established procedures was not without precedent.

What makes the act so troublesome is the utter stupidity of the demand. Does the vandal really believe his or any similar act will result in the current inhabitants of ‘Turtle Island’ handing the land back to Native Americans or the Israelis returning what is currently designated the State of Israel back to the Palestinians. Whether anyone believes those would constitute the right results doesn’t matter. Neither demand will be met. Not going to happen. If there were wrongs, why not seek reasonable redress—some form of reparations in the case of Native Americans, and a two-state solution in the Middle East?

In all likelihood, the vandal was acting out of deep-seated anger against society at large rather than out of principle. The wrongs done to Native Americans were just his excuse to vent—a demonstration of his own inadequacy.

Last Friday afternoon, Chicago saw a similar act of vandalism at a pro-Palestinian rally on the University of Chicago campus. As part of the demonstration, which led to three arrests, one or more demonstrators spray painted Henry Moore’s statue Nuclear Energy, located on the site of the world’s first nuclear reactor. On December 2, 1942, that reactor generated the first human-made self-sustaining nuclear reaction. Moore, in discussing the work, said:

When I had made this working model I showed it to them and they liked my idea because the top of it is like some large mushroom, or a kind of mushroom cloud. Also it has a kind of head shape like the top of the skull but down below is more an architectural cathedral. One might think of the lower part of it being a protective form and constructed for human beings and the top being more like the idea of the destructive side of the atom. So between the two it might express to people in a symbolic way the whole event. Quoted from the Art Journal, Spring 1973, Page 286.

Moore was addressing the two sides of atomic energy—its potential for good, as well as for destruction. He was imploring the world to make wise choices. Why would anyone find that message controversial, particularly when demonstrating against a war?

Adding further irony to the act of vandalism, those who vandalized Moore’s work did so on the day the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2024 Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo, a grass-roots movement of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors. When demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, why target a work of art that addresses the horrors of war on the very day that those who survived those horrors are honored for their efforts to bring about peace. Adding additional irony to the mix, Toshiyuki Mimaki, a member of Nihon Hidankyo, said, “They selected Nihon Hidankyo? I thought those fighting hard for peace in Gaza would deserve it.” Hidankyo added, If Russia uses [nuclear weapons] against Ukraine, Israel against Gaza, it won’t end there. He then added, “In Gaza, bleeding children are being held. It’s like in Japan 80 years ago.”

Given Moore’s objectives, the attack against Nuclear Energy demonstrates once again that the perpetrators are more bent on senseless destruction rather than arriving at solutions to vexing problems. Why would anyone attack Nuclear Energy on the day that one of those indirectly embodied in the work links his own experience as child in Japan to the children of Gaza?

Whether they vandalized a statue of Lincoln, or one depicting nuclear energy, the vandals lack perspective and nuance.

As I photographed the statue on Tuesday morning shortly before former President Donald J. Trump was scheduled to speak at the Economics Club of Chicago, a dozen people—some on bikes, some just out for a walk—passed by the scene. I heard several utter, “Wow,” or similar sentiments. Like me, all expressed disgust.

Hopefully, the prior vandalism resulted in a protective coating being applied to Standing Lincoln, making it easier to remove the paint. The Chicago Police Department should consider stationing an officer in the area in future years, or installing a video camera.

[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order]

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