ST. CROIX — Government officials moved quickly on Monday to clean two historic bronze statues in downtown Frederiksted after discovering they had been vandalized with profane graffiti over the weekend.
Maintenance staff cleared most of the damage within a day, and the Virgin Islands Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation is now working to eliminate the last remaining traces of permanent marker from one of the monuments in addition to restoring the protective seals on both.
Sports, Parks and Recreation Commissioner Vincent Roberts said he was notified about the vandalism first thing Monday morning, adding that his team had already reached out the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources’ State Historic Preservation Office at that time to discuss the proper method necessary to remove the graffiti.
“There were a few items that the chief curator that works with DPNR suggested us to purchase,” Roberts said on Tuesday. “We used that yesterday. We got off a lot of it, but it was still not completely back to its original state.”
The graffiti, scrawled across the two statues in what officials believe was permanent marker, contained explicit profanities targeting the concepts of history and freedom — messages that struck directly at what the monuments represent.
One of the monuments, known as the Freedom statue, depicts a conch shell blower holding a sugarcane sickle in front of the Oscar E. Henry Customs House. The other, a bust of Crucian freedom fighter Moses “General Buddhoe” Gottlieb, is located nearby in Buddhoe Park. Both commemorate pivotal moments in Virgin Islands history.
Sean Krigger, SHPO director, explained their significance.
“The Freedom statue represents the struggle for freedom of enslaved Africans in the Danish West Indies, which culminated in that 1848 emancipation revolt here in Frederiksted,” Krigger said, noting the statue was erected in 1998 on the 150th anniversary of Emancipation Day. “That statue speaks to Virgin Islanders across the spectrum. It speaks to our struggles for freedom, but not only freedom from enslavement but freedom from economic and social injustices.”
Krigger noted the bust of General Buddhoe holds similar historical weight and was created around the same time as the Freedom statue.
“General Buddhoe likewise represents the continuation of that struggle for freedom,” he said. “Even though the Danish West Indies had proclaimed emancipation for the enslaved Africans, there still was a level of enslavement, bondage through harsh labor rules, social rules, and so General Buddhoe represents that social fight for further freedom that took place in 1878.”
Krigger called the vandalism an assault on Virgin Islands heritage.
“The desecration of these statues goes against so much of the heritage and what it is that makes us as proud Virgin Islanders, and so we took it very seriously,” he said. “We stand with the Department of Sports, Parks, and Recreation in speaking out against such atrocities and also doing whatever we can to prevent future heinous acts like that.”
While the profanity has been removed from both statues, a faint outline from the permanent marker remains on General Buddhoe’s bust.
Roberts said on Tuesday that DSPR was working to secure additional products recommended by the chief curator to completely remove the marker. Krigger confirmed that a faint trace of marker remains on one of the statues despite the cleanup efforts, and that further restorative work will be needed regardless. He said because the statues are bronze and treated with a protective wax and sealer, the cleaning process itself likely stripped away that coating.
“In the cleaning process, that coating most likely was damaged, and so there’s going to have to be restorative efforts to put back on that protective wax and sealer,” Krigger said.
Roberts said the department has not yet determined a cost estimate for full repairs, noting that figure depends on how successful the ongoing cleaning proves to be.
Neither statue is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but both fall within the Frederiksted National Register Historic District and are protected under the Virgin Islands’ Antiquities and Cultural Properties Act as public monuments, Krigger said.
DSPR filed an official report with the Virgin Islands Police Department at 11:32 a.m. Monday, according to Glen Dratte, VIPD spokesperson. He said police are investigating the incident but noted there are no surveillance cameras in that specific area.
Roberts said DSPR does not have any information about who vandalized the statues or why.
“I’m pretty sure in the community you’re probably hearing it might have been this person or that person because they frequent this facility, but no one knows for sure exactly who did it and the reason why,” he said.
Krigger said he has speculation but no confirmed answers yet.
“We don’t know who did this,” he said. “We have speculations, but we don’t have any clear evidence at this time of who did this.”
Both officials said the incident has renewed conversations about protecting the territory’s historic monuments and public art going forward.
Krigger said his staff discussed the need for expanded video surveillance in Frederiksted, and — just as importantly — the staffing to monitor it.
“We need to ensure the efforts to put in video surveillance in the town is in fact continued but also ensuring that we have the resources and manpower to monitor these systems,” he said.
Krigger thanked the community for its concerns and urged continued vigilance.
“These are our resources; they belong to all of us as a whole, as a community, and we’re working to not only preserve but tell the story of our heritage,” he said. “It’s a collective effort, and so we want to encourage the community to continue to support these efforts and to keep a vigilant eye out for activities like these.”
Anybody with any information about the incident is urged to call 911, Crime Stoppers USVI at 1-800-222-8477, or the Criminal Investigation Bureau at 340-778-2211.
