Describe the characteristics of the Vandalism in this artwork's History.
In August 2017 the monument was vandalized by a group of individuals inspired by efforts to remove Confederate monuments; they posted a video of themselves performing the act on YouTube. In the video, one person sledgehammers the base of the structure, while another holds a sign reading "Racism. Tear it Down". In October 2017, Mayor Catherine Pugh authorized the city's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation to restore and relocate the monument, and expressed interest in the possibility of rededicating the monument to someone else other than Columbus, due to the controversy surrounding the structure.In June 2020, the group known as the Baltimore BLOC threatened to destroy the monument by offering Mayor Jack Young a dilemma of either removing all Columbus memorials or face vandalism as a consequence.
efforts to remove Confederate monuments Baltimore Catherine Pugh Mayor Jack Young Jack Young