A statue of Rochester icon Frederick Douglass was vandalized on Sunday, the anniversary of his famous July 5th, 1852 speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Police say the statue was ripped from its base in Maplewood Park at the Rose Garden, and they found it about 50 feet away. Someone had thrown it over the fence at the Genesee River Gorge. It was leaning on the fence and did not fall into the river. The statue was recovered, and officials of the Douglass Project which placed it there say the fiberglass cast will be replaced by a new one.
Another of the Douglass Project statues was ripped down a couple of years ago in the East End. In that case, it was the work of drunken college students.