An Abraham Lincoln statue has been defaced with graffiti for the second time in Chicago in less than two months.
The statue in Edgewater’s Senn Park was defaced with red paint and the words “coloniser” and “land back” and the “Dakota 38” were written on the ground nearby over Thanksgiving weekend, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The Dakota 38 is thought to be a reference to 38 Dakota Sioux members who were executed on Lincoln’s order following the US-Dakota war in 1862.
A separate statue of Abraham Lincoln in Chicago’s Lincoln Park was targeted by anti-coloniser activists last month.
According to History.com, the Sioux Uprising of 1862 occurred when Sioux, having been forced off their land for decades and facing starvation, attacked and killed hundreds of white settlers.
More than 2,000 warriors were rounded up and 300 were sentenced to death.
Then-President Lincoln reviewed the convictions and approved the hangings of 38 warriors, the largest mass execution in US history, according to History.com.
After protests in 2020, Chicago officials set up a commission to examine many of the city statues that had been targeted.
A statue of Christopher Columbus was removed after a recommendation by the city commission, but the statue of a young Lincoln remained.
While renowned for ending legal slavery, Lincoln’s role in the 1862 uprising has come under renewed scrutiny.
After four Sioux warriors killed five settlers, a war raged for six weeks, leading to the deaths of 358 settlers, 77 US soldiers and 29 militia members.
The number of Sioux fatalities is unknown. Thousands surrendered, including many non-combatants who had opposed the fighting.
Chicago police told the Tribune they were investigating the incident and that no one was in custody.
