The ceramic bust, depicting a smiling Taylor, was installed in downtown Oakland near City Hall. The bust was attached to a base with a memorial plaque that read “Say Her 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 parts of Taylor’s ceramic face were torn off.
The Oakland Police Department confirmed to CNN that it was investigating the vandalism, although it did not identify any possible suspects or motives.
Leo Carson, the artist who created the bust, told CNN that he sees it as an “act of racist aggression aimed at suppressing the struggle for black freedom.”
He found out the bust was damaged in an Instagram message, he said when a follower sent a picture of his pieces.
The act of vandalism was an insult to Carson’s motivation behind the bust, which he said was created to uplift and encourage protesters as they gathered in downtown Oakland to organize against racism and injustice, he told CNN .
To prevent future damage to the Taylor bust, Carson plans to rebuild it in bronze with donations from the GoFundMe page, which has already exceeded its $ 5,000 target.
“The vandals wanted to intimidate and silence the Black Lives Matter movement, and that’s proof that they are few and that we are thousands,” Carson said as he reached his fundraising goal.
Any remaining funds will be donated to Taylor’s family, Carson wrote on the fundraising platform.