Activists are heartbroken after taggers made their mark Friday night on a downtown Las Vegas mural that stands as a symbol of hope for indigenous people.
“I am so saddened at the amount of prejudice on this art that brought our indigenous communities together,” Las Vegas Paiute Tribe member and activist Fawn Douglas said Saturday.
But graffiti investigators with the Metropolitan Police Department are not treating the tagging as a hate crime, Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Grant Rogers said.
Officers were called by activists about 3:30 p.m. Saturday to 1001 S. First St, an address in the downtown arts district, where the large mural colors an alleyway. “HAVEC” had been tagged across the painting.
The exact meaning behind the tagging is unknown, but Rogers said it isn’t biased.
Douglas and seven other activists were at the mural Saturday afternoon talking to Metro officers. “They told us it looks like the act of awful people who want fame,” she said.
On the night of the vandalism, nearly 250 protesters rallied in front of the mural as part of a national call to action in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Douglas said.
“The message of the art is one of pride and hope for Native American people and allies,” Douglas wrote on facebook. “Unfortunately, on the night of our action the Native American faces were vandalized.”
Police said no arrests have been made in connection with the tagging as of Saturday night.
Source
“I am so saddened at the amount of prejudice on this art that brought our indigenous communities together,” Las Vegas Paiute Tribe member and activist Fawn Douglas said Saturday.
But graffiti investigators with the Metropolitan Police Department are not treating the tagging as a hate crime, Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Grant Rogers said.
Officers were called by activists about 3:30 p.m. Saturday to 1001 S. First St, an address in the downtown arts district, where the large mural colors an alleyway. “HAVEC” had been tagged across the painting.
The exact meaning behind the tagging is unknown, but Rogers said it isn’t biased.
Douglas and seven other activists were at the mural Saturday afternoon talking to Metro officers. “They told us it looks like the act of awful people who want fame,” she said.
Taggers vandalized the Dakota Access Pipeline protest mural in the Arts District in downtown Las Vegas. (Fawn Douglas, Las Vegas Paiute Tribe member)
On the night of the vandalism, nearly 250 protesters rallied in front of the mural as part of a national call to action in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Douglas said.
Original Art Before Destruction
“The message of the art is one of pride and hope for Native American people and allies,” Douglas wrote on facebook. “Unfortunately, on the night of our action the Native American faces were vandalized.”
Police said no arrests have been made in connection with the tagging as of Saturday night.
Source
VANDALIZED: Beautiful mural downtown depicting Standing Rock #NoDAPL fight was graffitied overnight. Artist, activists talking to police pic.twitter.com/ua8SwCxuAh— David Schuman (@david_schuman) March 12, 2017
Notice the vandalism, the paint goes across the blue sky but does NOT cover the warriors face, leads me to believe it was someone respectful of native peoples that did it....
Is there an reward ?????