'Slave owner' spray painted on George Washington monument in Chicago

CHICAGO - A monument to President George Washington that has stood in Chicago for more than a hundred years was spray painted with the words "slave owner."

The vandalism happened at Washington Park.

The words “slave owner” and “Amerikka” with three K’s are spray painted in red across the Washington statue and there’s a white sheet hanging in a tree. As the Black Lives Matter movement continues to press for change, momentum is also building for confederate statues across the country to come down.

“George Washington himself, they say he was a slave owner. He represents the worst of America also,” said William Salaam,who operates a salon near Washington Park.

“Some of the confederate things around the US should be taken down,” said Anna Koenig, a supporter of Black Lives Matter.

Chicago police were called to the scene near 51st and King Drive just after 7 a.m. Sunday. The statue was erected in Washington Park with a sense of pride more than 100 years ago. The bronze equestrian figure and granite base is a replica of one presented as a gift to the French government in the year 1900.

“I think that you can’t understand who you are as a people if you throw away all of your symbols of who you are and where you came from. I think a better conversation is how can we come to grips with what these people did and where we want to go as a nation, as a society,” said Lionel Kimble, Chicago State University associate professor of history and African American studies.

“First of all, I get it. I understand whoever did this, I see where they’re coming from and I see the symbolism behind what they wrote on there.  I think there’s a fundamental difference however, between what’s going on in the confederate monuments and this one,” said Kimble.

A petition is now circulating online to tear down the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park. It too was vandalized this weekend, also with red paint.