Vandals cover Abraham Lincoln statue with strange graffiti, call him executioner

Spray paint-wielding vandals in Chicago covered an iconic Abraham Lincoln statue with bizarre slogans on Monday — including one that claimed the Great Emancipator was actually an “executioner.” The monument — which sits near the Chicago History Museum in the city’s Lincoln Park neighborhood — was defaced as part of an apparent act of protest on Indigenous Peoples Day, according to CBS News.The messages included one that said, “Lincoln was an executioner,” and another that said, “May all empires fall from Turtle Island to Palestine.” The Lincoln reference is an apparent nod to the 16th president’s 1862 order that 38 Dakota men who fought with white settlers in Minnesota be hanged the day after Christmas.An attorney by trade, Lincoln determined that 39 Sioux were guilty of murder or rape during an uprising that year, according to the Associated Press.He ordered their execution, while commuting the sentences of 264 others — but later gave another reprieve to one of the accused, saving him from the gallows.Turtle Island is also a name for North America used by some indigenous people, CBS said.Cops are still investigating the incident, which likely happened during the overnight hours.

No arrests have been made.It’s not the first time someone hit the “Standing Lincoln” statue — an anonymous group of vandals struck in October 2022 also pouring paint on the monument to draw attention to Indigenous Peoples Day, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.That group used similar language, scrawling phrases such as “Dethrone the Colonizers, “Land Back!” and “Avenge the Dakota 38,” the outlet said.Lincoln, who was born in Kentucky before moving to Illinois in 1830, is widely considered one of America’s greatest presidents, ending slavery and guiding the Union army to victory over the Confederacy....