Days after the Charleston, S.C., shooting where nine black people were killed, a spray-painted message reading Black Lives Matter" was seen on the statue of the Confederacy in Charleston there.
The statue's pedestal dedicated to the "Confederate defenders of Charleston - Fort Sumter" was covered with a bright, red, spray-painted message with the words: "This is the problem. #Racist."
Police spokesman Charles Francis said that the city workers used a tarp to cover up the graffiti marking the stone pedestal beneath the statue, according to NBC News. He said he didn't know when the graffiti was spray-painted but said it would be cleaned off this week. He said the incident is under investigation.
At the rear of the statue, a message directed at Charleston Mayor Joe Riley and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was also spray-painted, saying: "Riley and Haley - Why defend this evil - This the root of our evil."
Some people remove the tarp to see the message.
The vandalism was discovered the same day of the first gathering at the Emanuel A.M.E. Church since the attack, according to UPI.
