Yonkers statues depicting enslaved African Americans vandalized hours before unveiling

A statue unveiling ceremony went on as planned along the Yonkers riverfront Friday, despite part of it being vandalized.

News 12 Staff

Jun 17, 2022, 10:34 AM

Updated 677 days ago

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A statue unveiling ceremony went on as planned along the Yonkers riverfront Friday, despite part of it being vandalized.  
Sculptor Vinnie Bagwell’s Enslaved Africans' Rain Garden shares the story of all enslaved Africans who lived and worked in Yonkers.
Two of the five bronze statues that were part of project vandalized. 
Bagwell says it appears a chemical was used to discolor the face of a statue of a little girl. She says they have been able to temporarily fix it, but a permanent fix will be needed.
At the base of another statue, a marking was drawn. The city was able to power wash the marking off.
Bagwell wrote in a Facebook post, "let no vandalism, avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations, that we have forgotten as a people, the cost of a free and undivided nation.”


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