Shot.
Hundreds of statues were brought down during the summer of George Floyd in 2020, with many being vandalized and toppled with no punishment from local authorities.
The Statues Brought Down Since the George Floyd Protests Began, by Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, July 2, 2020
The Statues Brought Down Since the George Floyd Protests Began via @TheAtlPhoto: https://t.co/YW9T27HxHp
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) July 2, 2020
In the widespread protests that followed the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on May 25, statues of and memorials to Confederate soldiers and generals were vandalized or torn down. Some of the many statues of Christopher Columbus were targeted as well, as voices rose against historic and systemic racism and oppression. State and local governments then began acting to remove even more Confederate statues from public places. Collected below, images of just some of the dozens of statues that have been toppled, defaced, or slated for removal across the United States over the past month.
Take another shot.
District attorney: Current felony charges for tearing down Lee statue ‘not prosecutable,’ by Melissa Brown, Montgomery Advertiser, June 2, 2020
#ICYMI, an Alabama attorney last night declined to prosecute felony charges against 4 people who tore down a Robert E. Lee statue in front of a Montgomery high school. He filed to nol prose, or dismiss, the felonies last night. https://t.co/wH6XzpUGJY
— Melissa Brown | @itsmelissabrown on Bluesky (@itsmelissabrown) June 3, 2020
The Montgomery County District Attorney said late Tuesday the current felony charges against four people who tore down a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee are ‘not prosecutable’ at this time due to legal errors in warrants and affidavits.
The Lee statue was toppled from a pedestal in front of the city’s Lee High School some time Monday evening, as hundreds of protesters gathered a few miles away in downtown Montgomery.
In an emailed statement, DA Daryl Bailey left the door open for prosecution in the incident but said he would await further word from the city and the Montgomery Public School Board.
“I am not making any determination as to the rightfulness or wrongfulness of these charges being filed,” Bailey said. ”I have advised the Montgomery Police Department that if the City of Montgomery and the Montgomery Public School Board desire to continue prosecution of these individuals that my office stands ready to advise on how these errors can be corrected.”
Chaser.
JUST IN: Christian vet who beheaded Satanic statue at Iowa Capital charged with hate crime, by Libby Emmons, Post Millennial, January 31, 2024
JUST IN: Christian vet who beheaded Satanic statue at Iowa Capital charged with hate crimehttps://t.co/jXUnpJkYLshttps://t.co/jXUnpJkYLs
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) January 31, 2024
Michael Cassidy has been charged with a hate crime for beheading a statue of Satan at the Iowa Capitol. Cassidy drove up to Iowa after the Satanic display was erected in the state capitol and took it down. He will be arraigned on February 15.
Polk County prosecutors charged Cassidy with felony third-degree criminal mischief, saying that he acted “in violation of individual rights” under Iowa’s hate crime statue, the Des Moines Register reports.
Cassidy had been charged with a misdemeanor fourth-degree criminal mischief the day after the beheading but had been informed that he may be liable for further charges.
Spokesman for the Polk County Attorney’s Office Lynn Hicks said that “Evidence shows the defendant made statements to law enforcement and the public indicating he destroyed the property because of the victim’s religion.” This is what resulted in the hate crimes charge.
Hicks further elaborated on how much it would cost to replace the statue of Baphoment [sic] constructed by the Satanic Temple, which would be between $750 and $1,500. The extremely litigious Satanic Temple had filed their own damage estimate, saying that it would be $3,000 to replace the statue.
Cassidy, a former military officer who ran for Congress, pushed over and decapitated the statue of Baphomet, which had been put up by members of the Satanic Temple of Iowa. The Satanic Temple had been given permission for the display. Cassidy discarded the head of Baphomet in the trash.
“My conscience is held captive to the word of God, not to bureaucratic decree. And so I acted,” Cassidy said at the time. He has raised $84,000 for his legal defense on his GiveSendGo and Turning Point USA pledged $10,000 to help. Cassidy spoke at Turning Point USA’s America Fest in Phoenix in December 2023, saying that the statue “was an abomination.”
He said that people need to wake up to what is happening in the world. “They may think it’s a joke that they triggered us but the devil is real and we have to be ready,” he said.
We live in the aftermath of a revolution where the good guys lost because we feared being called racist more than we desired keeping a country for our posterity.
