AMESBURY — Recent civil unrest appears to have led to the vandalism of a statue of the 19th century abolitionist poet John Greenleaf Whittier in Whittier, California.
Black Lives Matter protests and demonstrations broke out throughout the country after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis Police on May 25. While the majority of the protests have been peaceful, some have been marred by violence and damage. Although there were no demonstrations in Whittier, a vandal apparently sympathetic to the Black Lives Matter movement, tagged the statue of Whittier – a famous author and abolitionist – over the weekend in the California city named after him.
Whittier is an eastern suburb of Los Angeles. The Whittier Daily News reported on Tuesday the Whittier statue had been tagged and had “BLM” written on it as well as “(expletive ) Slave Owners.” Whittier police had not listed anyone as a suspect in the vandalism, according to the Whittier Daily News.
Nicholas Edmeier is the curator of the Whittier Museum in Whittier, California.
“This is a very unfortunate and very sad thing to see happen to this statue, especially given his history and wonderful legacy in trying to help out his fellow man in all forms,” Edmeier said. “It’s sad that it happened here, of all places, and to him, of all people in history.”
Edmeier said the city of Whittier has moved quickly to clean off the spray paint and many people in the area had expressed their sadness at the vandalism via social media.
“People are posting a lot about how sad and disappointed that they are that someone would be willing to do this,” Edmeier said. “They must have assumed, because he is an elderly, white person from that era, that he must have been racist. Someone at the Whittier Police Department also posted that they don’t think this was someone from the Black Lives Matter movement. They think this may have been someone in some other group trying to start some trouble.”
Whittier, the author of Snow-Bound, was born in Haverhill and published the anti-slavery pamphlet “Justice and Expediency” in 1833.
The fireside poet spent many years of his life in Amesbury where the John Greenleaf Whittier Home and Museum now stands.
Pam Fenner, a past president of the John Greenleaf Whittier Home and Museum, said Wednesday that she was “heartbroken” to see the statue defaced.
“This is someone who worked on the behalf of the abolition of slavery. Black lives mattered to him,” Fenner said. “I believe there is some speculation this was done by young people and it’s not associated with the protests. These may be young people who don’t know their history and I don’t know anything about who Whittier was.”
Fenner is also the author of “Celebrating Whittier: New England’s Quaker Poet and Abolitionist / America’s 1907 Centennial” and visited Whittier, California, where she saw the statue in 2007.
“The statue really kind of takes your breath away,” Fenner said. “Whittier never wanted a statue and it’s always disheartening when any public art is vandalized. This is particularly disheartening to read about the defacing of a statue of a man who worked for the majority of his adult life on behalf of the abolition of slavery and the rights of all human beings.”
According to Fenner, Whittier was a man who worked to better humanity around the world.
“You could easily pass this off as young people who don’t know their history,” Fenner said. “So I think everybody has to take a look at how we are educating our children, in the schools and in the home.”
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.
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