CHICAGO — A statue of Christopher Columbus has been defaced for a second time in three days.
The statue was splashed with red paint on Monday morning, the same day some were celebrating Columbus Day. The words "mass murderer" and "decolonize!" also appear to have been written on the pedestal of the statue, which stands at Polk and Loomis streets in Little Italy.
The second incident took place early Monday, said neighbor Ella Wilk. Her daughter went out for an early morning run and saw the paint was still wet as of around 6:30 a.m., Wilk said.
"It has nothing to do with our neighborhood or the people in the neighborhood," said Wilk of the statue's defacing. "It's political and it happens around the whole city, this idea of marking statues they don't believe should be here."
Workers cleaned the statue Monday morning. The Chicago Police Department did not immediately have information about the graffiti.
Another incident on Saturday led to a 30-year-old man being charged with defacing the statue.
Kyle Miskell, 30, of the 2200 block of 23rd Place, was one of three people who defaced the statue at Polk and Loomis before Columbus Day, police said. Miskell was charged with criminal damage to government property and criminal defacement of property.
Late Friday into early Saturday, Miskell and the other two people — who have not been taken into custody — rode their bikes to the statue and spray-painted the hands and feet of the piece, prosecutors said, according to the Tribune.
"F--- Columbus," "All colonies are burning" and "Muerte al estado," the three wrote on the statue pedestal, according to the Tribune.
A neighbor told DNAinfo Columbus' hair and face also had been painted red.
An off-duty officer saw the three. When he told them he was an officer, they got back on their bikes and tried to ride away, according to the Tribune. The officer found Miskell and held him until on-duty officers arrived and took Miskell into custody.
Miskell had red spray paint and wore rubber gloves, a ski mask, a bandana and black socks over his shoes, according to the Tribune.
The paint was cleaned off the statue, though a red tinge still could be seen on the statue's hands on Sunday.
Columbus, the man often credited with discovering America, has been a controversial figure for decades since he led the slaughter of indigenous people in the Americas. His titular holiday, Columbus Day, has been just as controversial, with some now celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day instead of honoring Columbus.
The Columbus statue has been a target of vandalism previously. Last year, someone marked it with anti-Trump graffiti shortly after the presidential election.
