For Immediate Release
June 14, 2020
Contact: Katherine Levasseur
(802) 828-2245
STATEMENT FROM SPEAKER MITZI JOHNSON ON THE VANDALIZATION OF THE MONTPELIER BLACK LIVES MATTER PAINTING
“Yesterday, hundreds of Vermonters gathered in Montpelier in solidarity to paint BLACK LIVES MATTER on State Street in front of the capitol building. I humbly joined the painting crew. Noel Riby-Williams and Conor Casey did amazing work getting this project organized and in place in under a week. Thank you to both of them and all participants for creating such incredible work.
“Early this morning, it was vandalized. The Capitol Police, Buildings & General Services Staff, and Montpelier Police are working together to restore the painting and track down the perpetrators. While it is easy to be disgusted and angered by the vandalism of these anonymous cowards, for me their actions reinforce the need to address head-on the racism and white supremacy right here in our communities. That racism takes the form of subtle, perhaps unintended acts of bias, individual acts of hatred in the form of violence or vandalism, and systemic racism that, since the founding of our country and state, have stacked the very rules and expectations of our society against Black, Indigenous and People of Color. It is incumbent upon all of us to recognize it, name it, fight it, and right the centuries of wrong.”
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