Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and former First Lady Wilma Webb condemned the vandalism of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Denver’s City Park, calling the act an affront to the civil rights leader’s memory in a news conference Thursday evening. Artist Ed Dwight and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Colorado Holiday Commission Chair Vern Howard also spoke.
The comments came less than two days after several pieces of the monument were stolen Tuesday night, including a bronze torch and angel and a bronze panel that depicted Black military veterans. The ACLU of Colorado also condemned the vandalism Thursday afternoon in a statement, with Executive Director Deborah Richardson calling it a distressing act that highlights the continued importance of civil rights work.
“This is something that all Coloradans and all Denverites and all people in America should be concerned about,” Wilma Webb said Thursday. “This is certainly an assault and insult to the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
A Colorado state representative from 1980 to 1993, Wilma Webb sponsored legislation to designate King’s birthday as a state holiday before it was federally recognized. Additionally, when Wellington Webb was Denver’s mayor in 2000, he and Wilma Webb helped establish the memorial in Denver’s City Park.
Standing in front of the monument, the former mayor called for better security measures in the area.
“This location needs to have lights around it, it also needs to have video cameras,” Wellington Webb said. “If we had video cameras and lights I think we would have caught who damaged this sculpture the other night.”
Dwight, the creator of the monument, noted the original welding job attached the panel from the back, making it vulnerable to being torn off.
“It was a lever, that’s all it took. All they had to do was get under the edges and work at it, they didn’t have to take it and rip it off all at once,” Dwight said. “That’s why we need a security system here, because it took them time to do that. I imagine they were here (about) an hour and a half.”
Dwight added that he may have to do some more advanced work on the new panel to ensure that all four corners are locked down to the monument to keep it from being removed so easily in the future.
The Webbs have launched a GoFundMe page to help pay for the repairs and added security measures. The link to the campaign is gofundme.com/f/repair-the-martin-luther-king-jr-sculpter.
“Whoever took it down, you’re wasting your time; all we’re going to do is put it back up,” said Wellington Webb. “You don’t have enough money to keep taking it down. We’re going to outraise you, we’re going to outwork you and we’re smarter than you.”
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