Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf hopes that the theft of the Breonna Taylor statue from a downtown plaza will spark a city-wide conversation about how public art is used to advance social justice.
“This was such a disturbing act,” Mayor Schaaf said.
She added that the smashing and then stealing of the bust from Oakland's Latham Square cuts the core of two values cherished by Oaklanders: art and social justice.
“And I believe that this will cause a very important conversation that I hope our Cultural Arts Commission takes up, about how we can use our public spaces and our public art to really advance social justice,” Schaaf said.
The mayor told KCBS Radio that Oakland Police are investigating.
Leo Carson, the statue's artist, has raised over $24,000 to help rebuild the bust. This week, he put a positive spin on the incident saying that the statue's destruction and removal "created waves that captured the attention of media all over the world," and "millions more now have heard the name of Breonna Taylor.”
Leo Carson blamed the vandalism and theft on racists who were trying to undermine the Black Lives Matter movement.