A plaque honoring Black veterans and a torch were stolen from the Martin Luther King Jr. monument in City Park.
A Parks and Recreation worker discovered the damage to the statue at around 10:15 a.m. Wednesday and called in to Denver Police, according to a DPD spokesperson.
"When I got the call this morning I felt as if somebody had attacked my family," said Vern L. Howard, Chair of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Colorado Holiday Commission. Howard managed the memorial's installation back in 2002.
The memorial features Dr. King along with statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth.
"I was pretty shocked," said Ed Dwight, the memorial's sculptor. Dwight said that he has created more than 130 statues across the country, and that a number of them have been damaged.
"What they like to do is come and attack the ones that tell the best stories," he said. Dwight said he also thinks the vandals may have targeted portions of the statue that were easy to remove and that include metal that could be resold.
Replacing the stolen parts could be difficult.
Dwight said he no longer has the eyesight to replace it himself, but that someone else could theoretically replace the parts based on photos of the monument.
"You've got to be a damn good artist to do that, and I don't know any offhand," he said.
It's not the first time vandals have come for the memorial. Howard said that a few years ago he found the Douglass and Gandhi statues tilted over. According to Howard, Wednesday's damage could cost between $75,000 and $100,000 to replace. He said he plans to fundraise to fix the memorial.
In the meantime, Howard said the city needs to protect the exposed parts of the memorial before a potential future snow, which could cause more damage to the monument.
"If this was a hate crime... no matter how hard they try, we're not going to stop fighting for human rights," Howard said. "We're not going to stop fighting for voting rights. We're not going to stop fighting for justice for all people."
The case is actively being investigated by DPD and, due to the nature of the monument, a spokesperson said, the department's bias motivated crimes unit is involved to determine whether racial bias played a role in the vandalism. Police are asking anyone who may have information about the damage to call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867 or submit a tip online.
Denverite has reached out to the Denver Department of Parks and Recreation for comment.
Denverite editor Obed Manuel and CPR photographer Hart Van Denburg contributed reporting.
