Trump to Enforce Veterans' Memorial Preservation Act- Federal Crime up to 10 years in Prison
Across the United States and in several countries, monuments and statues are under attack by the progressive mob and far-left extremist groups. Last night protestors vandalized a statue of Andrew Jackson and tried to remove it completely. The U.S. Park Police and capitol police arrived in riot gear and pushed back the protestors using chemical agents and batons. Several people were arrested as a result of the vandalism.
President Trump made a couple of statements via Twitter regarding the events last night commenting on the vandalism of not only the Andrew Jackson statue but also the defacing of St. John's Episcopal Church. USC § 1369 Destruction of Veterans' Memorials act reads in part, "(a) Whoever, in a circumstance described in subsection (b), willfully injures or destroys, or attempts to injure or destroy, any structure, plaque, statue, or other monument on public property commemorating the service of any person or persons in the armed forces of the United States shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both".
After trying to topple the Andrew Jackson statue protestors gathered and declared the area in front of St. John's Episcopal Church in Lafayette Square across from the White House, the Black House Autonomous Zone (BHAZ). They spray-painted the front columns of the church with B.H.A.Z. Later on, the police were able to obtain a security perimeter in front of the church.
The list of statues and monuments that are being removed either by protestors or government officials over the past several weeks is staggering. Some are being removed proactively, to protect them from being defaced, spray-painted, lit on fire or destroyeds. A statue of Christopher Columbus was beheaded in the Northend of Boston, MA. This particular statue has been vandalized several times over the years. In 2006, the statue was beheaded and in 2015 Black Lives Matter was spray-painted at the base and red paint was smeared over it.
2015 Vandalism of Columbus statue Boston, MA
In London, on June 13th the British Government boarded up the statue of Winston Churchill after protestors vandalized the statute with spray-paint writing "Churchill was a racist". The vandalism prompted counter-protests of people showing up to protect several statues around the city. One of Churchill's most memorable quotes was during a speech he gave in 1948 to the House of Commons, he said "Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it" which he paraphrased from George Santayana, a Spanish-born American author of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".
Churchill Statue Photo by: Wikipedia
Churchill Statue London -Photo by Patrick v IJzendoorn via Twitter
