'Black Lives Matter' spray-painted on Confederate memorial

ST. LOUIS -- Vandals targeted a Confederate Memorial in St. Louis, spray-painting the words "Black Lives Matter" on a statue already facing an uncertain future.

Police were called just before 8 a.m. Wednesday after a resident saw the damage on the 32-foot statue in Forest Park. Parks Department workers were cleaning the memorial, and no arrests have been made.

Police said the phrase "Black Lives Matter" was painted on the front of the statue. An expletive also was written on it.

The Confederate flag and other items honoring the Confederacy have come under renewed scrutiny in the week since a white gunman opened fire in a predominantly black Charleston, South Carolina, church, killing nine people. Dylann Roof, the man charged in the slayings, had posed in photos with the Confederate battle flag.

South Carolina's governor has called for removal of the Confederate flag that flies over the Capitol. Political leaders elsewhere in the Old South are reacting, too.

Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi urged the Confederate battle emblem to be removed from the Mississippi state flag. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley ordered Confederate flags taken down from the grounds of the state Capitol. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said his state will redesign a vanity license plate that features the flag.

In St. Louis, the granite and bronze statue has stood for 101 years. Its future was in doubt even before the vandalism.

Mayor Francis Slay in April directed city Human Services director Eddie Roth to confer with groups such as Forest Park Forever and the Missouri History Museum, then make a recommendation by the end of the summer on whether changes should be made. Slay spokeswoman Maggie Crane said changes could include revision of the plaque to "explain the longer view of history," whether it should be moved to a different location or whether it should be removed entirely.

"I am very certain you will see change to this monument in some degree," Crane said.

"These are powerful and hurtful symbols," Crane said. "They are an undeniable part of our history, a history for which we cannot be proud."

Darrell Maples, commander of Sons of Confederate Veterans' Missouri chapter, said he was "disgusted" by the vandalism. He said Slay shares in the blame for the damage by raising concerns about the memorial in April.

Maples said the Sons of Confederate Veterans is a non-racist historical organization made up of male descendants of Confederate soldiers and sailors, both black and white.

The phrase "Black Lives Matter" took root in nearby Ferguson, Missouri, last August, after 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr., who was black and unarmed, was killed by white police officer Darren Wilson. Wilson was not criminally charged, but the shooting led to months of unrest and spurred a national movement to address the often contentious relationship between blacks and police.